Rise of the Guardians (in training)
by Waruitenshi
Summary: The turtles make four quirky human friends who are really mutants with special powers. And as the turtles engage in their adventures, these four humans secretly go about their duties as Guardians in training for the Utroms in their war against the Kraang. Characters & OC's 18 plus instead of 15. Romances, fluff, rivals, action, etc. Rated M to be safe. AU 2012 Series.
1. Prologue: Threads of Fate

**IMPORTANT NOTE: For those of you who would prefer this fic have all Slash/Yaoi/Gay (male/male) pairings, you may want to check out my fic "Rise of the Guardians (in training): The Slashylicious Version" where ALL of my OC's in this fic are male in that one. LoL Thought I would let everyone know. I wrote an entirely slashy version because I like slash so much. X3**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own TMNT, MARVEL or DC, etc. If I DID, things would have been more interesting. LoL I only own my OC(s) and awesomeness. And though I did mess around with some of the pics I'll probably have up on AO3, the credit should go to the awesome artists who drew them originally. X3 So major kudos and thanks to them.**

**Warning(s): This fic contains Male/Female and Male/Male romantically paired couples. If you don't like either one, then don't read. **Read at your own risk, and heed the usual warnings I have up on my profile, where I also post fics on AO3, and so on, because if you don't like what you're reading, then you should just shut up and stop reading rather than bother to leave me rude comments since you have been warned more than once in just this one notice thingy. XD So you've been warned. There. X3 All better. LoL****

**Author's Note(s): An important thing to note is that Shredder's real name is Oroku Saki and Splinter's real name is Hamato Yoshi, and also that Karai is a character from the show (she arrives in the series by the episode "New Girl in Town"). **

**This is my "Rise of the Guardians (in training)" fanfiction series. Like the cartoon, not all of my OC's will be present in the storyline all the time. It was named after the first episode of the TMNT 2012 series "Rise of the Turtles". XD**

**I may make a few spin-offs of this if I get around to writing and or finishing them, for example: I was hoping to do a pairing of my OC Karina and Dr. Victor Falco as I began writing one a while back, but so far most of my time has been taken up by writing this one, so I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it. LoL If anyone is interested in seeing some villain based romance fics based on the villain rivals and my OC's, please leave it in a review or in a PM. X3**

****As for the pairings, I'd list them but I figure it's more fun to keep the readers guessing and mostly it seems kind of a buzz kill for me. X3 Anywho! There are at least two male/male (slash/yaoi) pairings, with the rest being female/male (straight couples) so it's all good. My pairings will have their own rivals for the other characters affection/love/heart, like Hamato Yoshi Vs. Oroku Saki for the love of Seung Haruhi and things like that to spice things up! ****

****I made the OC's, turtles, and other characters 18 years old and up/older, rather than them being 15, as it seems more appropriate for this series, and the cartoon in general with all the freaky and often adult stuff they get into (on the cartoon and/or in my fic). XD I know the show was made for kids, but I'm a kid at heart, and I figured people might rather read a story where everyone's of age so the romance won't seem so odd, as it's all ready pretty weird with all the mutants and aliens and ninjas, etc. Lmao. But whatevs! This is the way it is to suit my purposes, and that's all that matters to me. X3****

**I'll put the rest of my notes at the end so it doesn't seem so overwhelming. :D I also apologize for any typos, but I can't get them all.**

**Also, big thanks to all my friends like Anti-Carly, HellKing666, Danae and Islashlove, who are always so awesome to listen and put up with my craziness and passionate rants about my writing and such and act as my freaky, lovely muses. X3 Oh and to Shade Penn and sirius1696 for their helpful review(s) and general awesomeness. X3 **

**I finally got the pics up on AO3 X3. Had to make a Tumblr page to do it LOL but it's all good. Enjoy! **

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><p><strong>"Prologue: Threads of Fate"<strong>

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><p>The Utroms were a race of benevolent, peace loving beings who ended up being caught up in a war between their supposed "sister race" known as the Kraang. These pink little jerks were merely dumbed down copies of Kraang Prime; a warmongering alien who had slaughtered his own race in his ruthless thirst for conquest.<p>

The Seung clan had a long history as being a ninja clan that aided the Utroms in being Guardians; the human and human-alien mutant hybrid allies of the good aliens. The Seung clan was a veritable hotpot of races; such as Caucasian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and even some Utrom.

Haruhi Seung's grandmother ended up marrying the Utrom she had been the Guardian of, and with a little help from science, they had given birth to his mother Hanako and his aunt Haruko. That was one of the reasons mutations were common in the Seung bloodline. Though it did sometimes skip certain generations like his mothers and aunts.

Haruhi had always been a lovely and unique child; though oddly pretty for a boy as some who had seen him would think, to the point he was usually mistaken for a girl. The lad had long wavy, hair that flowed a little passed his shoulders. It was a rich shade of chestnut like his mothers; but so dark that it seemed on the verge of being brown and black at times depending on the light.

It parted down the middle and was usually worn tied back in a ponytail; two long bangs hung on either side of his sweet face to frame a pair of bright hazel-green, almond shaped eyes. His form looked so delicate and sylphlike despite how lean it was from all the running around, playing and training he did.

And though he was shy, genial and playful like any little kid his age, there was something about him that just seemed to be attune to things in an extraordinary way that could even take his parents by surprise.

Haru always had a way with animals; they seemed drawn to his kind and gentle nature, as if it came off in waves of good vibes. And when it came to practicing one of the ancient arts of his family, known as the Thread Technique, he exhibited a natural talent for playing the koto and singing.

Haruhi's parents were Guardians. They raised him as best as they could; trying to ensure that he was taught of both the cultures of human as well as Utrom both in and out of what his schooling taught him, so he would blend in better on Earth. They did not wish for him to forget he was a child of two worlds. As that was how Hanako and her sister had been taught.

He grew up with a love for music and martial arts; especially the special thread technique he was learning, with the hopes to be a Guardian like most of his family, because Haruhi wished to be able to protect those he cared for too.

So, when he was about five or six, his mother allowed him to start training at the Utrom facility in Japan to learn how to become a Guardian; as being an Utrom-Human hybrid, she didn't trust to leave him in the care of people from regular human schools.

Providing he worked harder at learning the particular skill set of the Seung family. As it was not taught to everyone, except those who showed natural talent or potential for it as she could tell her son did.

His parents didn't really want for him to be a Guardian, as it could be a dangerous responsibility, but they figured it best for him to be trained in how to defend himself regardless.

The Utroms were a bit better in regards to their unusual psionic abilities than the Kraang, as they focused more on strengthening the mind. Plus, the Kraang were just stupid. Let's face it.

But due to Haruhi being of both human and Utrom, they were not sure what to expect in terms of whether he might end up with powers or not. Though, in truth, his parents figured he would end up as a regular human child. But to be safe, Haru's parents thought it best he focus on learning mental discipline via the training one undergoes to become a Guardian just in case.

Haruhi's family lived in Japan, though Haru was taught to speak English in case he ever ended up in America; as it was rumored Kraang activity had been spotted there. The happy yet unusual couple lived in the same neighborhood as Haru's aunt Haruko Murakami; who was also a Guardian his mothers sister.

A lot of their family and other Guardians and their families lived in or near their neighborhood; though not all of their families and friends knew of their secret professions, as only a few were allowed to know; such as his aunts husband who chose to become a Guardian after she'd confided in him about it.

The Utroms version of school was created to educate the children of their human allies, and was just a small part of one of the bases they had on Earth. Haru liked going because his aunt, was an instructor at the Utrom school, as well as his sensei.

She taught them martial arts, and when sent on missions would be replaced by a fellow Guardian until she'd completed it. But when Haruko was teaching, he really enjoyed learning despite how strict the training could be since it would be used for life and death situations during battle.

His mother, Hanako thought it was nice that her son was learning important values such as discipline, respect, and even how to protect himself. But… she really wished for the boy to live a nice life rather than become tangled up in a war that spanned the multi-verse…

It could be a dangerous lifestyle full of secrets and hiding in the shadows, when you weren't fighting for some reason or another for your life or the lives of others. There was never any way to tell when you might die, when would be the last time you might see your loved ones. Or if you'd get captured by the enemy and experimented on.

You were allowed to have a family and such, but like family, your responsibility was to your duty as a Guardian. Hanako's mother had been a skilled kunoichi for the Utroms, and died fighting the Kraang. She did not wish for her only child to be hurt or killed or worse, but understood it was better for Haru to be prepared than defenseless.

Hanako was surprised to learn later on that Haruko desired to keep her life as a Guardian secret from any children she hoped to have; until a time when it would become necessary for the child to know. Hanako could respect that, but had always been about honesty when it came to her child.

Oddly enough, their neighbors whom the Seung family had been friends with for many generations, was also a clan of ninja that lived just down the street in a large house. Though they were not at all affiliated with or knowing of the existence of the aliens she helped.

The current ruler of the Hamato Clan had a son and an adopted son. His sons name were Hamato Yoshi, and he was a very kind soul and who had developed a friendly rivalry with his adopted brother Oroku Saki.

Saki tried to be good like Yoshi, but something about the lad and his competitive ways seemed to scream for attention; as if he was always looking for that missing piece and would mourn his heart out bitterly until he found it…

But even so, he seemed like a nice enough child to introduce her son Haruhi to. Thinking it would be good for Haru to have friends who were ninja around his own age, and who lived normal lives compared to their own, since their families had always had their children hang out together and play. Maybe it would encourage him to choose a life outside of being a Guardian…

Haruhi was such a shy boy when it came to people he wasn't used to or didn't know. And it didn't help that his mother thought he looked so cute with his long hair, that she would dress him up in pretty clothing like kimonos and such to emphasis it.

Which is why when they first met, both boys of the Hamato Clan were taken aback to see such a pretty girl, only a little younger than themselves, peering out from behind Hanako-san.

Haru had been dressed in a cherry blossom pink kimono that had a lovely dark pink cherry blossom floral design and matching dark pink sash around the waist. He also had on a pair of simple wooden sandals for a girl with red straps and white socks.

His mother always insisted he keep his hair long because it looked nice. And after an incident where he once had it cut short to prove her wrong, he agreed it did actually look better long.

But he'd refused to wear it down and had it up in its usual ponytail that was tied back with a white ribbon wrapped around it, with the two long bangs in the front. He had two pale silvery gold bells attached to the side of the right band; where it was wrapped with a white ribbon like the back of his hair and the other band.

Comically enough, he was used to being dressed in such a way for training purposes, and felt it was normal for someone in his situation. The only thing he thought was girly was the floral pattern, and that he was mistaken more for a girl when his hair was down; when in reality, he looked adorable and feminine no matter what.

It was tradition in the Seung family, as it was for any who practiced the art of the thread technique, that the practitioner undergo at least a fifteen year period in which they trained in feminine arts; such as dancing, and playing the koto, along with wearing female clothing such as the kimono. And even some occasional singing.

This was done in order to develop the skill, power, and grace in order to execute the complex technique properly. Unfortunately, despite his efforts to not look so girly , the way those two long bangs he had around his face combined with everything else, he failed to pull that off.

And so, when the two boys watched Hanako step swiftly behind little Haru, and they got to see and watch him give a nervous little bow and utter a soft "H-hello…" as a rosy tinge dusted his cheeks, young Saki and Yoshi found themselves rather speechless; their eyes comically widening as they gaped at the newcomer.

They thought Haruhi was a _very_ pretty girl, and they hadn't any experience being around, much less talking to a girl! The three of them sort of just stood there a tad awkwardly with the two staring at Haru, while poor Haru just gazed at the ground; still blushing while he fidgeted nervously with one of the bells on his hair.

The two Hamato boys were having a cute "Doki Doki" moment where their faces heated up, their hearts fluttered and raced, and their palms felt all sweaty as it became a little hard to breath. And they didn't understand why they felt so strange, because it was so exciting and terrifying all at once.

"Aww! Since when did you boys get so shy? Come on now." Hanako said to Saki and Yoshi with a good-natured chuckle, as she slowly pushed Haru towards them; who ended up stumbling a little and falling forward in the process of trying to discreetly fight against his pushing.

Both Saki and Yoshi saw this and reacted without thinking; both moving forward to catch what they thought was a lovely maiden, only for the brunette to catch himself on his hands and do a back flip over them.

They gazed with open mouths in awe as they watched the other land with catlike grace as the kimono fluttered prettily around a pair of slender legs; not realizing someone who looked so delicate and cute like that, could have ninja skills like they had been learning.

Hanako giggled again at the way the boys reacted; wondering why they looked so surprised. "Yoshi-kun, Saki-kun, I would like to introduce you to my child, Seung Haruhi." She introduced as said brunette turned around to give another bow when his name was said.

"It is… nice to meet you…" Haru managed to say politely with a pleasant smile; even though he felt really nervous when meeting new people. Saki was the first to recover as he walked up to Haruhi; his arms folded over his chest as he tried to put on his cool tough guy act.

"What kind of name is Haruhi anyways? Can't tell if it's a boys or a girls name." He asked a tad snidely; though he hadn't meant for it to come out that way. Haru blinked. "Both I think… Um, isn't Saki a girls name?" The brunette asked innocently.

Saki went about three shades of red and blanched slightly as he sweatdropped; not expecting that. "Uh… it… it's definitely a boys name!" He tried to reason; but his gruff way of speaking came out a bit sheepish and made the shorter boy, who they still thought was a girl, giggle.

The cute sound broke the awkward tension of doki doki-ness, and Saki just rubbed the back of his head and scowled in a pouting manner as he looked away from that pretty face that made him feel all nice and weird.. "It's okay. I like your name…" The brunette assured sweetly.

"Would it be okay, if I called you Saki-kun?" Haruhi asked. As his dark eyes turned to see those big doe-like hazel-green ones sparkling up at him, the taller boy felt his stubbornness melt as he merely gave a gruff little "Fine…" of defeat, which he couldn't help smiling at some when he saw the sunny smile the brunette shone at him.

Haruhi was only about eight and the Hamato boys around ten, so they were a little taller than the brunette by maybe three inches give or take. Saki was the tallest by half an inch though.

Yoshi had been pretty busy still staring shyly at the brunette, but when he saw how well Saki was getting along with her -er I mean- him, the younger ravenet hurried over to join in.

"I'm Hamato Yoshi, but you can call me Yo-kun, if I can call you Haru-chan." Yoshi said smilingly. Haruhi turned from the still slightly abashed boy to the one who looked quite cheerful.

Despite not wanting to be given the somewhat girly title of -chan, the little halfling couldn't help feeling a wave of good vibes coming off of Yoshi. It helped ease away the rest of his nervousness and made him giggle.

"O-okay… Yo-kun. You may both call me that." Haruhi told them brightly; feeling much better now. He took each boy by the hand and said "Let's go play, m'kay?" before the boys smiled and nodded before they led their new playmate off to do just that.

Since Haruhi got along with the boys just fine since they were kids, Hanako would occasionally leave young Haru at the Hamato household for short periods of time when her cousin was too busy to watch him.

She didn't like taking him around the other Guardians for fear it might further influence him to become a Guardian as well; which, as irony would have it, made the brunette want to be anyways as he grew older. Regardless of how much she tried to prevent and dissuade the idea.

Her son really liked hanging out with the peaceful ninja, and seemed a bit more fond of him than their friend Oroku Saki, whom Hamato-san's father had taken in and raised alongside his own son after the feud between the Foot and Hamato clans had ended in much bloodshed.

Young Saki however, liked Haru, and thought the other was incredibly cute. But it agitated him to see how nervous and wary the shorter boy had become of him as they grew older; but that was only because he got scared when he saw just how mean and angry Saki could get at times.

Saki wished Haru-chan would like him the way he did Yoshi… It was like Haru was afraid Saki would suddenly sprout fangs and claws and gobble him up like a hungry monster. And even further upset him when he saw how much the little brunette loved being around Yoshi.

His bright green and brown eyes would brighten like the sun, and it spread throughout the boys whole aura as he smiled up at the kindly ninja. Saki hated how everyone seemed to prefer Yoshi to him…

Haruhi couldn't help it. Something about Oroku-san put him on edge the longer he knew him; not to mention the older ninja tended to have a bit of a temper. The hardheaded boy seemed nice enough, and the halfling really did try to like him, but it didn't seem to help the weird vibe he got off of him.

Hanako noticed the way Haruhi favored the Hamato boy, and had been the one to tell him that his edginess was picked up on by Saki, and that it seemed to be upsetting him the way he favored one friend over the other, and that such was not very nice. As friends should not treat each other that way.

Feeling he had done something bad and not having wanted to upset his friend Saki, Haruhi hurried over to find him and make amends. Saki had been most taken aback when the brunette came to apologize and explain that he didn't know why he behaved that way, that he simply did, and had not meant to hurt the older ninjas feelings.

The lad even went so far as to give the other a small hug. Saki stood there stunned and completely taken aback by the others compassion. "You're my friend too, Saki-kun. I don't want to lose either of you." Haru told him sincerely, with a sunny smile he'd only ever seen when they first met; which had been mostly seen given to Yoshi lately.

Yoshi, who had been with them at the time, had laughed good-naturedly and teased his friend and adopted brother about having blushed so much; though Saki would never admit that he had to his childhood rival, and abashedly denied it.

After that, the tough ninja and the halfling went back to getting along better. Even the bad vibe seemed to dissipate; as Saki was at least relieved to know it wasn't something he did that made the lovely ninja behave that way, and had been most touched by the Haru-chan's words and actions. The brunette seemed to bring out the good in him; and even Saki had to admit to himself that he was starting to like it.

He even took in a stray Akita Inu mutt puppy simply because he figured Haruhi might like him more if he had a cute pet to help make him seem less scary. This idea was good in theory, but then Saki only ended up feeling rather jealous of the puppy when Haru would shower it with attention.

"Can we name him Hachiko, Saki-kun? _Please_?" The little brunette sweetly asked with those big doe eyes of his; a level of cuteness which would later lead the older ninja to name all of his following pets Hachiko in the future, as he wasn't exactly one for naming things.

Saki hated how he gave in to the adorable request, and even more that he had to clear his throat before answering because of how he felt he couldn't trust his own voice for a moment.

"I… suppose we could, Haru-chan." He tried and failed to sound like his usual gruff self; his voice softening as he spoke. The three boys had been friends for a few years now, and so Saki and Yoshi were getting close to being teenagers.

And with the way Haruhi often came over to visit or was left there to be looked after while his mother was busy, it seemed inevitable that even Saki would grow fond of such a sweet person.

Most particularly when out of everyone he knew, Haru seemed to be the only person who genuinely liked him; besides maybe Hachiko. He was a bit iffy about Yoshi, but that was mostly because they were rivals in everything.

But despite how much better he and Haru got along, he noticed Yoshi and Haruhi growing steadily closer; as Yoshi really liked the androgynous halfling too. And thus their rivalry took an interesting turn to compete for Haru-chan's attention and affection.

The two had yet to figure out Haru was a boy; which their parents thought was somewhat adorably hilarious, and did nothing to change since they figured it was just harmless childhood antics, and that they'd figure it out sooner or later.

And when Haru was allowed to spend the night every once in a while, the two competitive ninjas couldn't have been more thrilled, because it meant they got to spend extra time with their "ninja princess" as they had secretly taken to calling the brunette.

Poor little Haruhi had no idea they thought he was a girl, and was just enjoying the attention and affection his two best friends showed him; thinking that's how friends were supposed to be. Which is why he just went with the flow as he was used to being treated like a girl anyways with his training.

The first night that the halfling spent the night, he couldn't sleep very well, and had gone to the room Saki and Yoshi shared in the girly sleepwear his mom bought for him; which that night had been a very pretty white yukata styled robe with a pattern of pink peach blossoms outlined in black.

He told them he couldn't sleep, because his mom and dad always gave him a hug and kiss goodnight. Both raven haired ninjas were a bit at a loss, but Yoshi got up and slowly went over to give his upset friend a hug.

And though he did scowl, mostly because he didn't think to do that first, Saki went and did the same after shoving roughly Yoshi out of the way. Feeling much happier now, Haru thanked them both and gave them each a little peck on the cheek, and bid them a sweet goodnight.

Both boys blushed and touched the spot on their cheek before exchanging a bewildered look, and then going back to bed. But from that night on, whenever Haru spent the night, they both looked forward to when they said goodnight to their favorite little brunette; for it meant a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

Even though he felt Haru liked Yoshi better than him, being around Haruhi made all the bad feelings the young Oroku child bore a little easier to bear; with that sunny disposition of his and knack for knowing when Saki was upset.

Which was usually followed by attempts to cheer him up, unless he caught Saki brooding on purpose for attention, which made the halfling giggle and hug him anyway. And when he was there while they were practicing, the boys would try to show off in front of him; usually followed by a good smack from their sensei for doing so.

But the Hamato boys loved it best when they got to see Haruhi perform on the koto for them, sing, or do a dance. For someone so young, the art came naturally to the svelte brunette. And they were steadily more awed by how elegantly he moved the older they became.

However, a time came when they were in their teens, that friendly childhood rivalry between Saki and Yoshi turned to bitter hatred and jealousy for poor Saki, when he returned from getting them something to drink and saw Haruhi staring wide eyed at Yoshi; who was kissing him right on the lips!

By this time, Yoshi had discovered that the strong feelings he felt for Haruhi was love, and he had been so nervous about confessing it. Yoshi tried very hard to capture the pretty ninjas attention.

Which had been somewhat easy at first since they just seemed to get along without any effort. But then Haruhi had felt he was neglecting Saki and made sure the three of them were together instead of Saki being left out on occasion.

The reason it had gotten somewhat difficult to attract the gentle brunette was because Saki had gone and cleverly obtain that puppy Hachiko of his, and Haruhi had simply adored the mutt.

So, Saki had to try and find a new way to make the other prefer him. He took to reading stories to Haruhi. And though the halfling was usually cuddled up adorably with Hachiko or leaned against Saki, Yoshi counted the times when Haru came to lean on him a small victory in its own.

The fact that he managed to find things like reading to the other or playing the flute for him to hold Haru's interest was a win in itself. The two rivals comically fought these subtle battles; doing their best to keep Haruhi from noticing.

Yoshi could tell Saki cared for the brunette too. He wasn't exactly thrilled about that though. Out of respect and care for Haruhi though, he had been hiding his love for the other so as not to spoil the friendship between the three. Just as Saki had been doing, as they both knew Haruhi was just happy to have friends.

But one day, when Saki had left grumbling about how he was thirsty, and they were alone in the backyard surrounded by all the beautiful flowers as they sat on the stone bench under the big cherry tree, Haruhi had turned to smile that heartwarming smile of his and say something to Yoshi, when something seemed to possess the young Hamato.

He found himself moving towards the halfling, and the next thing he knew, they went tumbling to the ground, and then his arms were wrapped around Haruhi in a tight embrace while he kissed the slender ninja as passionately as he could; being that it was the first real kiss either had ever experienced.

Since Haru didn't sense things all the time, and it sort of came and went depending on the circumstances, he thought perhaps Yo-kun had been trying to playfully tackle him or something, and had put up his hands to push him away.

Which is how his hands ended up resting on the others taut chest, and why his eyes widened in surprise when the ravenet had kissed him instead. And while he loved both his friends very much, he couldn't help feeling a rush of delight that it was Yoshi who was kissing him.

But before he could react, the young Hamato was yanked back by a very pissed off looking Saki. Haruhi felt strong, rough hands gingerly maneuvering under his arms to help him up off the grass, as Saki leaned down so their faces were eye level.

One hand resting lightly on the curve of a slender shoulder, as the other reached up to brush the stay hair from those startling green-brown eyes; the bells tinkling lightly as he did so. That look of anger on Saki's rugged face softening to concern quickly at the stunned look his sweet brunette had.

"Are you okay, Haru-chan?" Saki had been worried by the way Haru looked that maybe Yoshi had been trying to force himself on him. And from where Saki was standing; seeing Yoshi on top of poor Haru like that, and how he felt about the halfling, it was an easy mistake to make.

"Y-yes, Saki-kun…" Haruhi managed to utter breathlessly; giving himself a mental shake and blinking a few times. Saki was busy looking his friend over for any damage. He saw how Haru's face was a little flushed, and those pouty lips of his were reddened and slightly puffy from the overly excited and rough way in which he had been kissed.

Saki swallowed as he eyed the others lips; his mouth feeling dryer than it had before as he licked his own lips. "I-I'm okay… He didn't hurt me. I was… just caught off guard. That's all." Haru tried to give him a reassuring smile; feeling happy to have had a friend who worried like that about him.

While at the same time feeling bad for having worried him at all; a torrent of confusing emotions raging within his own mind and heart as it was with the other two ninjas.

The brunette had never been fond of the idea of dating or having feelings for a woman. He's always preferred guys. But he'd never thought that either of his handsome friends would have any interest in him; much less to end up with one of them kissing him!

Haru knew that despite his gruff, stubborn exterior, Saki had a softer side. It was just heavily guarded by all the walls he'd put up, for whatever reasons he felt he needed them to begin with.

"I'm so sorry Haru-chan!" Yoshi exclaimed, as he gathered himself up off the ground where Saki had thrown him; having been shocked by his own actions as well as his adopted brothers. "I didn't mean to cause such a mess."

Yoshi gave a deep, apologetic bow; his heart heavy that he had gone and done what he had tried so hard to avoid, and ruined everything. But as far as Haruhi was concerned, things had changed, but he didn't think they were anywhere near being ruined.

Then again, he didn't know Saki and Yoshi had a huge crush on him. But Saki didn't want to hear the others apologies. As far as he was concerned, Yoshi had gone and attacked his ninja princess, and he should be lucky Saki didn't beat him to death on the spot for it.

Instead, Saki took Haru by the hand and began to lead him away, but felt resistance. Turning to look he saw those hazel-green gems full of compassion and roiling emotion caused his desire to take Haru away and comfort the brunette only grew stronger.

His expression was stern as he clenched his teeth, but Haruhi could see the soft look in Saki's dark eyes and gave him a pleading smile. "He's our friend…" Was all Haru had to say, before the taller ninja gave an aggravated sigh and let the halfling take him over to where Yoshi was standing.

The young Hamato looked completely dejected and regretful. Haru let go of Saki's hand to cup his sorrowful friends face, and bring it up so he wasn't staring at the ground anymore.

"Hey now. You didn't hurt me, Yo-kun. I'm okay. See?" The youngest ninja smiled warmly. Saki glowered when he saw his competition give Haru a sad half smile. "How come you kissed me though? I thought you and Saki liked girls." The halfling asked good-naturedly.

Well, he did know the two liked girls because he often heard them talking about a pretty girl when they thought he wasn't listening or around, but had no idea who it was. He figured it might've been one of his distant cousins like Tang Shen who sometimes came by Haru's house to hang out with him.

"But… you _are_ a girl." Saki stated with a confused tone; wondering why the brunette phrased the question that way. Unlike Saki, Yoshi had recently figured out Haruhi was actually of the male persuasion.

This happened on a happy accident when the young Hamato had gone to pay a surprise visit to the dear brunette, when he went to open the door to Haru's room and saw the halfling with her- or rather- _his_ shirt off. He'd been in the middle of putting a fresh one of his girly tops on when Yoshi knocked; and being a guy, he didn't think much of his friend seeing him topless.

After that, Yoshi had been very confused for a while. But when he thought this discovery would make him like Haruhi less, he was pleasantly shocked to find that if anything, his feelings for the brunette only grew.

Haruhi frowned slightly as he turned his head to look at Saki. "What are you talking about? I'm a boy." Seeing the dumbstruck look on the taller males face, the halfling couldn't help giggling lightheartedly.

"I-I'm sorry, Saki-kun." He managed to say through his mirth as it settled. "I thought you knew." The tallest raven haired teenager felt as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him by this news.

Sure, Saki had thought it was odd yet refreshing how much of a tomboy their ninja princess seemed to be, and how proficient Haru was with martial arts. And… yeah, okay, he didn't have breasts like some teenage girls, but Saki figured he was just flat chested; and couldn't help thinking the brunette looked better that way.

Seeing how beautiful Haruhi was, combined with the fact that he was still young enough that his enthrallingly gentle voice hadn't broken and matured yet, it was easy to overlook for someone who had been blinded by their feelings for him. At least that was how Saki's brain was rationalizing it.

Saki's hands clenched and unclenched at his sides repeatedly as his mind tried to process information that it had blatantly ignored. He wasn't sure what to think now. His emotions were all befuddled as his sexuality came into question.

Haruhi felt rather overwhelmed by the waves of emotions that both his friends were experiencing. It was almost suffocating, and he wished he could do something to fix it. Reaching up to place a hand to the side of his forehead as he tried to take a steadying breath; he felt on the verge of trembling. But then, yet another surprise of the day met his ears.

"I knew…" The quiet voice startled both Saki and Haru out of the silent staring they were doing at each other. Yoshi straightened up and took a small step towards both of them; a look of determination on his face.

"I knew Haru-chan was a boy. I've known it for some time now. And I… still feel the way I always have for him. The only thing that's changed is that my feelings are stronger now." Yoshi confessed bravely.

The young Hamato was blushing like a madman and his stomach was a raging storm of butterflies, but if he didn't say what needed to be said, then he was afraid Saki might freak out on Haruhi and make things worse.

He didn't want to see the halfling get hurt by whatever pigheaded thing the taller ravenet might blurt out in anger. Saki looked from the brunette to his rival, and then back to Haru again.

He saw the worried look the other had in regards to him, and while he was upset and confused by the situation, the only thing he could think to do was turn around with an exasperated growl and storm off.

The brunette felt tears in his eyes as he reached out and began to go after his pained friend, but Yoshi's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Shhhh… it's okay Haru-chan." Yoshi cooed gently; pulling the silently crying halfling into his arms.

Saki's reaction had caused Haruhi to worry that he must hate him now that he didn't think he's a girl anymore. Was it so bad that he was a boy? Was it worth that sharp pain of betrayal and confused disgust that he felt radiating from the tall ninja?

When he expressed his concerns to Yoshi, he explained that Saki just needed time to process it all, as he once had to. The young Hamato then led Haru back over to sit with him on the stone bench under the cherry tree they'd been on earlier.

There, with a newfound courage, Yoshi began to tell him all about how he and Saki thought he was a girl and why; though as distraught as he was, Haru still managed a small giggle at finding out he was their "ninja princess".

He also explained how he came to figure out how Haruhi was a boy. At least now the brunette understood why they wouldn't allow him to bathe with them, or get undressed in front of them, and stuff like that.

And here he'd assumed they were trying to spare his feelings by telling him they thought he was too weird to do that sort of thing with, since most others shunned Haru for being different.

Sometimes because of how much he looked like a girl, but mostly due to how he thought he could sense the emotions of others and animals through the "vibes" he got. Go figure it was all because they assumed he was a pretty girl.

It was rather flattering that they thought he was attractive for his personality more than merely his looks. Somehow that helped make him feel better about it; knowing that they had simply cared about him too much, rather than secretly harboring disgust or hatred for him.

Haruhi wasn't at all put off by Yoshi's kiss. He'd read about and seen plenty of guys kiss and other stuff in the manga he read and people he'd seen do that sort of thing on TV or in real life.

His female cousins like Tang Shen had lots of anime and manga that was called Yaoi or "Boys Love", but mostly "Girls Love" or Yuri that she thought was fun to show off to him since he liked reading. Though when he first discovered such a genre, young Haru ended up blushing quite a bit.

In fact, it was quite common among Guardians and Utroms since their ranks consisted mostly of males, and not frowned upon since things worked differently where the Utroms were from.

Yoshi then continued on quite blushingly to further confess that he had grown much fonder of Haru than he should've. And that if the brunette wanted, they could try being more than just friends.

Haruhi wasn't quite expecting that, but at least it ceased his tears. He sniffled and looked up at the kindly ninja. "You… do?" He asked shyly; having had a bit of a crush on the young Hamato teen, as he had always been happiest around him, but hadn't acted on it because he didn't want to be rejected.

Yoshi had always been there for him. Saki tried, but the brooding teen tended to be prone to annoyed or angry outbursts because it upset him when Haru was upset. The thought was nice and all, but Haru preferred someone who didn't scare the hell out of him like Saki sometimes did.

Even so, that didn't mean he didn't love Saki as well. Just not the way he loved Yoshi. When Haru confessed his feelings to Yoshi, he didn't think he'd ever seen the older ninja smile so much.

The halfling gave a little squeak of surprise when the kindly ravenet pulled him into another kiss; one that was much gentler this time. After a moment, he relaxed and returned it. And as their secret love was finally allowed to bloom, Saki sat in his room broodingly trying to sort out everything that had happened.

Yoshi had a very open mind and accepting nature. Saki… eh… he did not. Not really anyway. His nature was more full of self-denial and repression. So until he figured things out and stopped glaring at Yoshi like he'd raped his dog, Yoshi asked Haruhi to stay away for a while.

Interestingly enough, the only looks Haruhi ever received were more like that of a kicked puppy, or just an unreadable yet stern look; as if he just wasn't sure how to look at the brunette now.

The young Guardian in training agreed it was best to give Saki some time, while he and Yoshi focused on their own relationship. They both knew some day that Yoshi would probably have to marry a woman so as to produce an heir to the Hamato family name.

But they wanted to enjoy being with each other until that day came. Haruhi heard from his aunt Haruko that Yoshi's father would probably pick his distant cousin Tang Shen. That was fine with him though, because Shen knew about his relationship with Yoshi and was cool about it.

For many years now, Tang Shen had a love interest of her own, so she only planned on staying with Yoshi long enough to give him an heir and have a child of her own to have and raise with her girlfriend, before having a quiet divorce and going to be with the one she truly loved.

Tang Shen began hanging out around Haru and Yoshi more, and even introduced them to her secret girlfriend a few times. Her name was Joi Reynard; a lovely blonde who was a fellow martial artist in Tang Shen's family dojo whom she trained with.

The four of them were the only ones to know of their plans and thought it best to keep it that way so as not to upset their families. Well, mostly Yoshi's, as his father was very traditional and old fashioned in a closed minded way.

But so long as they maintained their families honor and bloodline, the two secret couples didn't think it was anyone's business as to who they chose to love. Or how they preferred to live their lives.

When Saki finally began hanging out with them again, he was properly introduced to Tang Shen and couldn't help thinking she looked awfully pretty with that long, dark brown hair.

She might've passed for a female version of Haru had she been prettier and had those hazel-green eyes that enthralled and soothed him so… At least, he couldn't help thinking that. But Saki didn't want to have feelings for another man, and did his best to try and believe he didn't love him.

He grew rather distant from Haruhi, which pained him because he knew it hurt the brunettes feelings. But he had to keep his resolve. He didn't blame Haru. How could he? The halfling had done nothing but go out of his way to show him friendship and compassion.

If he was going to blame anyone, it would've been Hamato Yoshi for not telling him Haruhi was a boy beforehand. That way he might have been better able to have handled his feelings, or at least not have stormed off the way he had.

He didn't know that his two best friends were dating either. They felt it wise to keep their relationship quiet from everyone save for Tang Shen, Joi, and Haruko. Oroku did his best to maintain his distance, and not become too friendly towards Haru anymore.

Afraid he might become bewitched by the young ninjas charm and beauty again. But whether unconsciously or aware of it; as even Saki wasn't entirely sure, the broody ravenet began trying to woo Tang Shen as a sort of female replacement for his lost ninja princess.

Being that she wasn't interested in him as any more than a friend, Tang Shen only ever returned platonic feelings and apologized that she was to be with Yoshi; keeping up the appearance that they were a budding couple for the sake of their respective families by flirting with and going on fake dates with the kindly Hamato heir.

This infuriated Saki to no end, as it seemed no one wanted to be any more than his friend. Which in his mind, didn't make them much of one. And the only one he might've had a chance with was male. But he was determined nonetheless. So when the day came where the fake couple was announcing their engagement, Saki had reached his limit.

Haruhi was barely twenty at the time, whereas the two Hamato boys were now men in their early twenties, as was Shen, when Shen and Yoshi threw a big party with their family and friends.

There they announced that they were engaged to be married. The androgynous halfling had been upset he couldn't have been the one to marry Yoshi instead, but he knew where the others heart lay.

Especially since Haruhi had discovered that he was pregnant with Yo-kun's child. His aunt Haruko told him to keep it from Yoshi, but he couldn't do that. He loved his dear ravenet too much to keep the fact they were going to have a baby together from him.

Utroms were hermaphroditic by nature; much like Earth snails, and because of Haruhi's grandfather being an Utrom, the brunettes body had somehow inherited this unique trait; which would explain why he was so androgynous.

At first Yoshi had been confused as to how such a thing could've happened. But then Haruhi explained to him about his alien-human heritage; feeling he could trust Yoshi with this like his aunt Haruko and other Guardians had come to trust and confide in the ones they loved.

He didn't tell him about the Guardians, but just that he wasn't quite human because his grandfather was a benevolent alien who ended up on Earth and fell in love with his grandmother; which was true.

And to avoid any disbelief, his grandfather agreed to back up Haruhi's claim by being there with him when he told him. At first, Yoshi had been shocked and wasn't sure what to think.

But Haru gave him time to process it all, and he decided that no matter what, he loved the halfling and wanted to be with him. However, he did lightly jest that it now made sense why Haru was so girly; which made the brunette laugh and give him a little playful smack on the arm.

Yoshi had been so excited about actually being able to have a child with his beloved brunette. It was something he had only ever dreamed of; never thinking it could come true.

The open minded ninja thought that perhaps since now Haruhi was technically as much a woman as he was a man, that they didn't have to go along with this farce of an engagement anymore.

So, his mind all drunk on happiness and excitement, Yoshi went to go see his father. He explained to him how Haruhi was pregnant; but that it was because he was a hermaphrodite and not that he was an alien halfling, as he promised to keep that bit a secret.

Thankfully he did though, as after explaining that and how he wanted to call off the wedding between him and Tang Shen so he could be with Haruhi, that was when it all went horribly wrong.

His father had been outraged that his son was not only a queer (as he had so cruelly phrased it), but that his sons lover was not only another man, but a freak of nature at that! He and his father fought for a long time about the matter.

But in the end, his father told him that if he didn't cease his "foolishness", get married to Tang Shen as he promised, and have nothing to do with the Seung boy, that not only would Yoshi be disowned by his clan and father, but that he would make sure Haruhi, his clan and their child would be hunted down and disposed of.

Well, needless to say, Yoshi chose to do as he was told in order to keep Haru and their unborn baby safe. Had it only been his name at stake, he would've gladly given it all up. But he could not bear the thought of his beloved suffering for his own selfish desires…

Haruhi had been both horrified and devastated at not only the news, and the fact that Yoshi had so thoughtlessly gone and blurted everything, but that he was being told all of this by the young Hamato's father; who demanded Haru hand over his child to be raised by Yoshi and his wife to be, as atonement for having brought such disgrace upon both their clans.

And so there they were, at an engagement party a few short months later, putting on false smiles and lying about how excited they were about their marriage while Haru lied about how happy he was for them; having only been allowed to attend to keep face, as no one besides Yoshi, Shen, Haruhi, his parents, aunt, and Yoshi's father knew what was going on.

So he tried to smile and congratulate the false couple; his expression faltering when Yoshi gave him an apologetic look as they parted . Unfortunately for everyone, there was one party guest who also not at all thrilled about the engagement.

Though had he known what was really going on, there's no telling how pissed he would've been. The only thing he knew was that something was up with Haruhi and Yoshi, as the young Hamato had become distant from him by no longer having anything to do with him; like he'd suddenly disowned him or something.

Feeling bitter, betrayed and all around upset, Saki drank a little more than he probably should have and asked Tang Shen if he could have a private word with her. Hamato saw this and followed to make sure she was safe.

As Saki began to ask why Haruhi looked so depressed and upset lately; as though he kept his distance, Saki couldn't help worrying about the brunette, and what was going on between him and Yoshi, the young Hamato turned up to interrupt them.

Yoshi stepped in to defend her, as he could tell the other had a little too much to drink, and had thought he was trying to harass her as to why she wasn't marrying Saki instead. But when he tried to say that wasn't the reason he wanted to speak to her, Yoshi was too pissed off to even want to hear him out.

With a bitter smirk at the all too familiar overreaction on his adopted brothers part, Saki took up the challenge and began insulting his fellow ninja by going into a bit of a rant about how Yoshi wasn't a very good friend or person for that matter, as everyone thought he was.

He asked Yoshi how the shorter ninja could have gone from kissing Haruhi to behaving so heartlessly towards him, and saying that he couldn't blame the brunette for not wanting to be around such a fickle jerk and the like; trying to goad him into a fight that had been a long time coming.

Being insulted in such a crude manner and feeling he needed to defend Haru-chan's honor as well as his own, infuriated Yoshi. And instead of getting the two of them away from Oroku, the young Hamato ended up getting into a brief fight with the other that ended in Saki's defeat.

But as he rose to his feet, Saki turned to give his rival a dark, hurt glare before leaving the seclusion of the backyard, and to find something stronger to drink away his shame and anger. Seeing Yoshi and Shen like that with the cherry tree behind them brought back painful memories of a certain brunette he needed to drown.

Haruhi had been trying to pretend to have fun as he spoke to various friends and relatives, when he spotted Oroku slip away from the backyard toward the inside of the house.

He could tell the other was upset, but figured it was about not getting to marry Tang Shen; as he had seen all of his distant friends attempts to win the woman over, along with all the failures that followed.

And being the good guy he was, as he had never given up on trying to be friends with the brooding hothead of a ninja, Haru went to see if he could cheer him up. Besides, it was better than having to fake his way through the party.

What with all the turmoil and changes he was going through between the pregnancy, losing Yoshi and the dread of having to give up his child, Haruhi wanted to be with someone he cared about. And being around his friend Saki used to make him feel better when they were still close…

His aunt Haruko watched the slender brunette hurry to catch up with Saki with a wary feeling in her gut. She never much cared for Oroku Saki. He was the spawn of the Foot Clan, and nothing good had ever come from them.

But Haruhi was just as unaware of this as Saki was. Though, even if he did know, the brunette probably wouldn't have cared. So long as Saki chose to be good, that was all that mattered. It was ones actions, not their origins that made them who they were. The past was just there to learn from.

Saki was in his room glaring daggers out the window of his bedroom; a bottle of the strongest liquor he had in hand, as he tried to drown out how he unbelievably shitty he felt with the alcohol. He had to get away from the "happy couple".

He couldn't stand the fact that it was happening at all. And that whole bit about remembering seeing Yoshi kissing Haruhi made his stomach knot up. He felt like he might be violently ill and wrathful at the same time by how Yoshi so easily won the hearts and affections of others.

He was already pretty pissed off about how his rival had stolen Tang Shen's love from him. That and he couldn't help feeling that fateful day that, Haru-chan, the only person who he thought cared about him had been stolen from him as well.

What was so wrong with him that no one wanted to love him? He wasn't a monster. So why did everyone treat him like one? Why couldn't someone just make him feel like a person; like Haru used to… The brunette may not have been a girl after all, but he did recall how good it was to be around him.

In fact, he was probably the only person who made feel Saki feel like more of a man than some vicious beast no one wanted, and only kept out of guilt; though for reasons he would only discover later on in his life.

The man felt as if he had been sinking into a pit of despair from which there was no way out; his hatred for Hamato Yoshi bubbling venomously just below the sorrow filled surface he was steadily descending into.

"Saki-kun…?" The soft, timid little voice asked from beside where he had been glaring out a window at the sky in deep thought. He glanced toward it and saw Haruhi looking concerned, and felt his anger dissolve enough as his glare fell to its usual slight scowl.

"I thought you might like some company." Haru edified with a tender smile as he tentatively reached over to take a hold of Saki's hand. The ravenet made a rough little "Hmph" sound, but did not make a move to get away from the others gesture. He didn't have to answer. He rarely did, because somehow, Haru-chan already knew.

The brunette could be so empathic sometimes that it made the man wonder if it was the lads super power; if he believed in such nonsense. But, in times like these, Saki couldn't help but be grateful to at least have someone whom he felt could empathize and understand what he was feeling.

They stood there in surprisingly comfortable silence for a while, just gazing out the window at the setting sun, as Saki continued to drink and Haru held his hand. His slim thumb offering a comforting caress every now and then as he leaned the side of his head against Saki's shoulder ever so lightly; as came natural to the brunette to do whenever he was trying to make the other feel better.

Applying just enough of his weight so that the older male would know he wasn't alone. After having gulped down a good third of the bottle or more of the light amber liquid before Haru had even shown up, Saki was starting to feel its effects as the pain began to numb again.

"What happened between you and Yoshi?" Saki found the quiet, gruff words spilling from his lips before he could stop himself. Haru blinked and looked up at him; those hazel-green eyes suddenly being darkened by a sadness that made the older ninja wish he hadn't asked.

At first Haruhi tried to deny there was anything wrong, but Saki wouldn't have it. Not wanting the other to be mad at him, the brunette relented with a sorrowful sigh and explained how he and Yoshi had been dating in secret for a while.

Saki felt his heart ache when he was told this, but grit his teeth and kept silent until the other finished his story; glad to have a bottle of liquor handy. Then, Haru got to the part of how, because of his hermaphroditic nature, he became pregnant.

And how Yoshi had told his father, who angrily demanded Yoshi disown him and keep his distance or else Haru and their child would be killed. And that the brunette had to give up his baby to make peace between their clans or befall the same fate of them both being done away with.

Haruhi ended up crying silent tears as he had to tell the other about it all. He told him how he didn't want his child to be hunted and killed if he tried to take the baby and run, and that he wished more than anything that he could keep her.

"Her?" Saki raised a curious brow. Haruhi nodded with a sad little smile as he placed a hand fondly to his stomach; which the ravenet now noticed was a little bulged out. "Mhmm… I think it's a girl."

With more than half of the bottle gone, the ravenet was definitely pretty drunk by now. Admittedly, he was feeling somewhat better between the physical and emotional numbing agent he was ingesting, and the pretty ninja leaning against him; confiding in him the way he did.

Although he felt terrible for the other and wished there was a way to make him feel better, besides just listening as he watched the other out of the corner of his eye. The halfling had always preferred looking elsewhere when speaking of things he found unpleasant. Saki couldn't blame him though; he was much the same way.

He had no doubt the brunette would make a wonderful mother. Haru was already very good at helping his aunt take care of her daughter Karina. Saki used to scold himself for catching glimpses of Haru tending to the little child, that had curiously starlight silvery hair, and wondering what it would've been like for the brunette to have been a woman or just for Haru-chan to have chosen to be with him instead of that heartless wretch Yoshi so they could be married and have children of their own.

His dark brown eyes were hazed with nostalgia as they traveled over to the other to see the top of his head as Haru gazed in somewhat of a pensive daze out the window. The soft orange glow of the sun fell across the halflings hair and face; making the dark brown locks almost seem to shine, and his eyes to seem brighter than before. Like a lush forest on a sunny day.

The brunette sighed; a look of utter despair replacing the little smile as his tears shone in the sunshine like twinkling diamonds. "If… If I was allowed to keep her, I would have named her Karai." He confided as he rubbed at the small belly bump again; his soft, sweet voice so hushed with anguish that Saki had been glad they were standing together or else he might not have heard.

"Hmm…" Saki mused the name over in his mind. "It's a beautiful name. Perhaps if you tell your cousin-" He tried to offer, but Haruhi shook his head solemnly. "No… It will be hers to name. I-I could not ask such of her." Poor Haru was such an honorable, kindhearted person…

Something within Saki's being seemed to give a curious twitch; like someone was poking agitatedly at a switch in his soul, but couldn't get it to budge. He realized then that after all he had done to close himself off from his feelings, that he still found Haruhi to be quite stunning with his compassionate nature and that young, delicate face of his.

In fact, he looked more like a woman than most girls did at his age, save for in the chest area; where all the brunettes training had built up small pectoral muscles that could've passed for small breasts.

Though they did look a little bigger now… And the other seemed to give off a sort of glow; probably from the combination of his pregnancy and Saki's intoxication, but it somehow made Haru more attractive. If that were possible.

And though he felt it probably should have, that fact didn't bother the ravenet in the least. If anything, the lithe form of the other and grace that he exuded was always something that even at that moment, Saki couldn't help but gaze upon in wonder.

Saki blinked like a man trying to make a mirage go away when they had been stranded in a dessert. It was like he was really seeing the brunette for the first time. He'd never wanted to admit it, but Haru's appearance was to the point that it should've been physically impossible for a guy to look that much like a woman…

Unconsciously, his hand slowly pulled away from the tender grip the slender hand had on his, and then paused just above the halflings head; as if afraid for a moment to touch him again.

But then, his hand lowered to rest atop the sun warmed hair. Haruhi shuffled his feet a little now that the other had moved his arm so he could no longer lean on it. Then he felt the hand on his head and froze in surprise.

He tilted his head just slightly to look up at the other, and gave a warm yet small smile. In return, Haru received a light ruffling of his hair and a slight smile in return. "No… You have every right to offer her the name. It's more your child than hers." Saki kindly told him with all seriousness.

Though despite the expression, Haru could see a torrent of emotions roiling within those dark eyes, and wondered what had suddenly come over his friend. Still, he couldn't help but smile some at the sincere words.

The taller male really had meant every word; finding it hard not to feel those dark strands as he caressed them. The young ninjas hair was very soft; like a little rabbits. Saki had grazed it before to brush it out of his face in the past, but he'd never really taken the time to appreciate its softness.

His fingers hit the band that kept Haru's hair tied back. Now that he thought about it… he'd never seen the other without his hair up… At the feel of the slight pull, Haruhi made a small mewling sound of protest, before shooting the taller of the two a glaring pout that actually made Saki smirk some.

Saki set down the bottle so he could use his other hand to help its twin better remove the band without tugging on Haru's hair anymore. The brunette eyed him bemusedly; wondering why he had done that, but was a little happy the other was smiling now instead of being all brooding.

The other had taken the news of everything much better than he had expected. Haruhi figured he might've been disgusted by the fact that he and Yoshi had been a couple. And though finding out about it all had upset Saki very deeply, he couldn't help feeling for his lovely friend and wanting to do something to make them both feel better. To forget everything and everyone; if only for a little while…

Once the band was gone, the others hair fell in a slightly curly waterfall of chocolate around his slender shoulders and to the small of his back. With a small frown of bewilderment, the halfling tilted his head as he turned to look up at the other; which would've normally made the bells he wore tinkle some.

But he had not worn them today as it would've been considered rude, since they housed the koto strings he used as weapons while practicing. The movement caused one of the mildly long set of bangs that framed his face to fall across it in a manner that made Saki swallow hard; his throat feeling suddenly very, very dry.

With that long, dark hair, the brunette kind of reminded him of just how bewitching he was to gaze upon. Maybe it was the booze talking or he had finally gone off the deep end; either of which he would blame Hamato Yoshi for.

But he definitely could admit to himself that Haru looked way cuter than Shen; with his creamy complexion, pink pouty lips, and bright eyes that sparkled like earthy emeralds in the light of the setting sun.

And the outfit he'd worn for the party made Haru-chan look positively breathtaking. It was a beautiful dark purple kimono that had a pattern of white roses and other flowers with pale green leaves. The lining underneath was a creamy greenish white, and the sash was light yellow with a black butterfly embroidered upon it.

He let the white band of ribbon fall to the ground as his fingers wound their way back into those silky locks to comb through it; his rough fingers caressing the scalp as tenderly as he could.

The Guardian in trainings cheeks were dusted a light shade of pink, as he unconsciously closed his eyes and smiled at the nice feeling of having his hair played with like that. He wasn't sure what had come over Saki, but he was happy he was being nice again. He'd missed his good friend…

Saki took a strange sense of satisfaction from the fact that Yoshi would no longer be able to get a reaction like that from the young ninja. Haruhi hummed contentedly and leaned reflexively into the touch; not thinking ill about any of it, as he figured the other wanted to be friends again. As Saki could be affectionate when he wanted to.

Poor naïve Haru was just glad Saki-kun seemed to be feeling better, and was trying to console him. Feeling the hand rest on the back of his head, Haruhi followed the gentle yet firm pull, and found his face buried in the front of the others dark red robes.

Haru's face was against the others chest; he turned his cheek to rest it against the spot over his heart, as Saki just held the brunette close. One hand resting in the middle of Haru's back between his shoulder blades, while the other went back to combing through his hair.

Being the innocent and trusting soul he was and in desperate need of comfort since he wasn't allowed near Yo-kun or even his cousin Shen except for today, the younger ninja sensed no ill will from the other and took the hug as a good sign that their friendship still had a chance.

Hugs were always good as far as he knew. His parents nor anyone else having ever taught him the dangers that situations like his current one could put him in. But even if they had, Haruhi would've never thought such possible from Saki.

Saki moved back just enough so that he could cup the others chin with his finger to make him look up at him. Shimmering orbs, with their long dark eyelashes, fluttered open to gaze with slight bemusement into dark brown ones that looked smoldering red in the fading sunlight.

His big hands came to rest on either side of the smaller males face; his thumb trailing lightly and of its own accord over the others cheeks to wipe away the trails of tears, and then across those smooth, light pink lips. He stared intensely at them; no real thought in his alcohol and angst addled mind. Just feelings and instincts.

Both of which were uncertain and yet hungry for something the ravenet could not quite place. Yoshi had always taken or won all that which should've been his; or so the embittered young mans mind reasoned ever so twistedly.

So why shouldn't he try to find a way to take something from him? It wasn't like Yoshi could be with Haruhi anymore anyway. And if that were the case, the horrid Hamato wasn't worthy of such an angel anyway.

Haru-chan deserved so much better than the spoiled Hamato heir could ever give him, Saki reasoned. He deserved a man who would fight for him; who would slay whatever vile snake dare threaten him harm.

And Saki couldn't help thinking he was the man to do that for him. Haruhi shouldn't have to live in fear for his or his child's life. Even if it wasn't Saki's, it was the brunettes. That alone made him feel he could care for the unborn infant.

As such thoughts passed through his mind, his eyes were still fixated on the others lips, before he began leaning in without thinking. The growing desire to be with Haruhi and make everything alright in his world again becoming stronger by the second and overriding what little sense he had left.

It was then that Haruhi began to get a vibe that something was not right. Something was tingling in the back of his mind and moving to the forefront telling him that he needed to get back.

He leaned back as far as the others hand would let him. "S-Saki-kun…? Saki-kun!" The brunettes voice startled him from his stupor some; having heard the growing edge of panic to it and wondering what was the matter.

Then he saw that the others face was much closer, and that he could feel little, hasty puffs of breath on his face, as Haruhi was only about an inch from him; his eyes wide and glistening like Saki had been about to eat him up.

Well, in all honesty… hadn't he? At least in a sense. "Sa-Saki-kun…?" Haru breathed worriedly. The brunette felt his friend was upset and probably meant well, and though he liked Saki as a friend very much, he did not like him the same way he had come to love Yoshi.

Haruhi didn't want Saki doing anything he might regret because they were both very upset and the ravent being as drunk as he was. He knew Saki preferred girls, and that he'd had his heart set on Tang Shen; or at least to his knowledge anyway.

So in good conscious, he could not let the other try to kiss him as he had done. That and the others breath smelled horribly of alcohol; he wrinkled his nose slightly as he tried again to get further away.

That wasn't really going to happen though with the way the stronger of the two was holding him in place. Saki frowned as he wondered why the other was trying to get away; his foggy mind not really registering how much of a creep he was being.

All Saki knew was that he was with someone pretty that he really liked more than he probably should have who liked him, and who was looking more adorably appetizing by the second the more he struggled and said Saki's name all breathily like that; making him instinctively pull the brunettes body right up against his own with the hand he had slid down to the small of his back.

Feeling the others firm, swollen stomach from being a few months pregnant pressed up against his made Saki growl lowly and possessively; his hold around the other tightening slightly as the urge to have and protect the smaller male clawed at his insides and made a bulge of his own stir between his legs.

Haruhi did his best to try and get the other off of him, but while he was a pretty good martial artist by now, Saki was far better; having trained much longer and harder. So no matter what movement or maneuver he tried, Saki; even in his rather drunken state, easily countered it until he effectively and carefully had poor Haru pinned up against the wall with his hands above his head by one of Saki's large, work callused ones.

If anything, the ravenet was actually having fun sparring so intimately like this, and wanted more. So fine, if the other wanted to act like a shy little rabbit, then he was more than happy to play the hungry wolf. Saki gave a rumbling chortle at the thought when, as if on cue, he felt the slightly trembling figure try to wriggle away again with a meek mewl.

He gave the halflings earlobe a light nip that made him yelp, and then gave a low warning growl that drew a quiet, pretty whimper. "P-please don't… S-stop it… Saki-kun." The brunette pleaded softly; wanting Saki to stop but having picked a poor choice of phrasing.

Thinking the other had asked him NOT to stop, and done so in such a sweet way, the ravenous ravenets hand that had been on the small of the others back lowered and began leisurely squeezing and fondling the tender yet firm bit of round flesh it found; admiring how lean and svelte the other was. _God_, Haru-chan was _curvy _like a woman too!

He must train a lot more than Saki had previously thought. Such a good little ninja princess, he couldn't help thinking as he nuzzled the crook of the others neck; feeling the silky strands of hair sliding against the smooth unmarred flesh and his own face.

The wriggling Haru did to try and get away only seemed to encourage the man to plant kisses on his neck and nip at the flesh in warning when Haru moved around too much.

While it felt oddly nice, and admittedly drew a few breathy little moans that drove Saki crazy, it also felt very wrong to the brunette. Saki however, reveled in the way the others body unintentionally rubbed up against his own; instinctually responding to his affectionate ministrations.

Those hazel-green eyes widened when he accidentally brushed up against the hard length beneath the ravenets kimono. Haruhi gasped; his slight blush worsening at realizing how aroused his friend was and the reaction the movement provoked.

Saki gave a deep, lusty rumble of a growl and pressed it up against one of Haru's willowy legs. He wanted his beautiful ninja to know how good he was making him feel; hoping it would encourage the timid Haruhi to return his ardent advances, as he figured the other was just being shy.

As he pressed up against the smaller males leg, he could feel the others protruding stomach touch his own flat, muscular one. Saki wasn't sure why feeling it was turning him on so much to feel the others pregnant belly. But before he could think, he began rubbing up against the others body with his own as he wanted to feel it more.

Some primitive, predatory part of his mind too overwhelmed by thrall Haruhi had him in; making the ravenet feel like some lonely, love-starved beast that wanted nothing more than to be as close as possible to the object of his affections, and to tear apart anyone who was stupid enough to get in his way.

Haru's mind was racing as he tried to figure out a way to escape without hurting the other or getting hurt. He didn't want to do these things with Saki-kun. He didn't like him that way nor did he want the other to keep rubbing up against his body like that; even if his frightened mind did somehow think it felt really good. Why wasn't Saki stopping like he'd asked?

He kept wishing for the other to just stop touching him and go back to being his usual aloof yet nice self. Hell, be broody if he wanted. Haruhi didn't care at this point. He just wanted the other off of him; feeling somewhat ashamed his own body was betraying to all the stimulation Saki assaulted it with. But he just wasn't strong or skilled enough to get away.

Haru was really missing his koto strings. At least he might've had a better chance with them. He didn't want Saki that way; especially if he was drunk and upset. He sure as hell was no ones rebound or thing to use to forget ones troubles. That's what alcoholic binges were for.

'_Please stop. Stop, stop…! _The young ninja thought with the hope that somehow that would help since his verbal pleas got him nowhere; his thoughts becoming steadily more erratic as things progressed. Then, to his further distress, Saki's mouth was upon his; claiming it in a hungry, rough kiss that didn't feel good the way the ravenous ravenet did it.

He teasingly tugged and nipped at Haru's sensitive lips; slowly scrapping his sharp teeth over the warm, moist flesh and making the poor soul cry out in pain. But Saki mistook the lovely sound for pleasure; making him further tighten his overprotective viselike grip on the others wrists unconsciously, as the other hand continued to play with his captivatingly captive princess.

"Please Saki-kun… Y-you're drunk… You d-don't want me. You like Shen-chan." Haru tried pleading again between kisses; sounding so distraught and almost broken. It pained the ravenet to hear the other like that.

The poor dear, Saki thought woefully. What with the way Saki had become distant from him and Yoshi's cold rejection of him must've depreciated the gentle brunettes sense of self-worth and made him think no one would want him. Saki knew how that felt, and wanted to soothe away the others pain.

Saki sweetly shushed him and placed a light kiss on Haru's cheek; trying to reassure him everything was okay and that it was Haruhi that he really wanted; as he couldn't find the words to say so and relied on actions. But all it did was add to the confusion and distress of the one he wanted more than anything to comfort.

'_Stopstopstopstopstopstopstop…!' _He felt the hand Saki had been fondling his bottom with slid forward and affectionately over his stomach, before it went further southward to try and force open the front of the kimono he'd worn for the party, while trying to physically coerce his tongue into the smaller males mouth, Haru felt tears trickling down his face again as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Saki closed his eyes briefly and groaned in ecstasy, as his tongue mercilessly invaded and explored his favorite playmates hot, moist little mouth. The taller male didn't think he'd ever tasted something as delicious as Haru-chan; so sweet and pure… and finally all _his_! It further intoxicated his already addled mind, as he became so lost in his forceful passion.

'_Yo-kun! Where are you when I need you?!' _The brunette thought despairingly, before realizing that no one was going to come to his aid. No one knew he was here. And he doubted anyone besides Yoshi probably cared.

But Yoshi was probably too busy with his fake engagement to have even noticed…! Oh god… he was going to be raped! And by someone he thought he could trust and had loved!

That hand snaked its way further under his layers of clothing, and he felt like a rubber band in his mind had been pulled to tightly and suddenly snapped. A wave of something indescribable crashed over Haru and he mentally and verbally screamed "STOP!", when the sound of someone crying out in pain and the abrupt feeling of getting his personal space back swept over the brunette.

He nearly fell over from being suddenly released of the hold and the sinewy weight against his body. Daring to open his eyes, he saw Saki lying on his back; clutching at his head in agony and groaning. Haru couldn't believe he'd managed to get a word out between the rough kisses, or that it had actually had any effect.

Saki had been thoroughly delighting in ravishing his sweet little rabbit, when a sharp pain struck him; like a bomb had gone off in his head, as the loud hysteric scream of "STOP!" rang in his mind in the moment that Haruhi had yelled it.

It shook him and felt like shrapnel was cutting through his brain as he ended up falling back in paralyzing pain! As if some unseen force had repelled him like the opposite ends of two powerful magnets.

"I-I'm sorry…" Haruhi managed to breath; not sure what had happened, but feeling the weird need to apologize, before he took the opportunity and ran for it like a bat out of hell!

His whole body was shaking like it was vibrating to the point that it kind of hurt. He felt suddenly cold and frightened by what had almost happened and what he'd just done. And the beginnings of shame for how he had enjoyed some of Saki's affections and how his body had naturally reacted to it, but more upset at the older ninja for having made him feel that way.

Had Saki not just been trying to take advantage of him, Haru would've gone to see if he was okay. And even still, he cared enough about the other that he had hesitated with the instinct to do so, if only for a moment before his self-preservation instincts kicked back into high gear once the shock had passed.

After that, Haru found his aunt and told her that he didn't feel good, and so she kindly took him home; he didn't want to try going home alone and be stopped by Saki or anything. She could tell something was wrong, but it took a few days before he would confide in her.

He was terrified to tell Yoshi for fear he might end up getting hurt trying to defend his honor or something; not that he was even allowed near him anyway. Haru just needed some time alone to sort things out; feeling violated and yet so utterly confused about everything.

The halfling knew such a thing should've made him hate Saki, but his gentle nature just didn't have it in him. Saki had been in pain. Haru had felt it all; the soul shattering loneliness, envy, sadness, and the desperation to just be loved that mirrored his own in such a shockingly warped way

Haruhi could empathize. He used to experience such horrid feelings before he'd met Saki and Yoshi and they'd all become so close. His relatives were nice, but they were family.

He'd felt a longing to connect with someone who wasn't related to him. Haruhi had had that connection with his two friend, and it had been strongest with Yoshi. But now that he could no longer have that with Yoshi, Haru knew he couldn't fault Saki for trying to reach out to someone…

Which was why he could not bring himself to hate the emotionally suffering ravenet like his aunt told him he should. But that didn't mean he approved of Saki's actions; drunk or otherwise.

And she promised not to tell when he asked her not to. Despite her having wanted to tell everyone and skin that bastard alive. But Haruhi reasoned that Saki wasn't well, and after explaining it to Haruko, she still didn't think being drunk off your ass or severely distraught was a good excuse to molest anyone. Much less her dear nephew.

Shortly after Haru had fled, Saki began to realize the other hadn't meant to hurt him, but must've done it out of fear of being rejected again once it was all over. He felt pissed off now.

Not at Haru-chan; never him. But angry at the Hamato family for what it was doing to his precious brunette. It was Yoshi who ran his stupid mouth and caused this whole mess.

It was Yoshi who upset his father and was the reason Haruhi had to give up his baby. And it was that damn Yoshi's fault for how his ninja princess was suffering so much he didn't feel worthy of anyone else's love.

Yoshi was nothing but a heartless rat! The lowest of the low for what he'd done to Haru-chan. And so was his wretched adopted father. Saki stormed off to give the Hamato clan leader a piece of his mind.

He took the man aside for a private conversation, and confronted him about what he and his rat of a son were putting Haruhi through. Yoshi's father couldn't believe the little freak was causing so much trouble within his clan.

But he was getting fed up with Saki's attitude anyway. And out of anger did he tell off the ravenet and say that he should've just killed him off with the rest of his clan and been done with the whole thing then and there.

And that had he not tried to raise Saki as his own, that it probably wouldn't have brought the bad tidings that he considered the brunette to be, and his son might be a straight man instead of some disgraceful faggot like he thought Saki was; as it was obvious by this confrontation that the little witch boy had beguiled the ravenet as well as his son.

Saki couldn't believe what the other was saying, and felt a surge of outrage. He wanted so badly to fight him right then and there, but after his scuffle with Yoshi earlier, he knew it was a bad idea; having sobered up enough to know that much.

Instead, he took his dog Hachiko and few belongings, and absconded the Hamato household in shame and anger of his actions towards the gentle brunette, and his utter hatred of Yoshi and his family. He would then go on to further discover his true origins and focus his efforts on rebuilding the Foot clan.

And though he did not dare go near the Seung household, after having had plenty of time to realize what a moron he had been, did Saki send his dog Hachiko to live with Haruhi as a show of apology. Since that was all he could really do without speaking to him face to face; as that seemed unwise for various reasons.

His feelings for the brunette had changed much since then; less confused than before at least. Though he still knew himself to be straight as he did find women attractive, he decided that he simply found Haruhi to be more so, and that he was the only male he could have those kind of feelings for.

However, seeing as he had to rebuild his fallen clan and seek vengeance upon the Hamato Clan for its many sins against it, him and his dear friend, any desire he had to see his gentle princess; and he had quite a few, it would have to wait until his affairs were settled so as to avoid Haru-chan getting hurt in any way.

Besides, he was sure Haruhi probably hated him now anyway… Best to at least try to give wounds like that time to heal before trying to properly make amends. Saki tried to find solace in the fact that at least Yoshi couldn't have him, since he would be marrying Tang Shen.

Speaking of which… Soon Hamato and his fake wife were married and living in a house a little closer to Haruhi's. It pained both Yoshi and Haruhi that they were so close but so far…

But Haru tried to distract himself by focusing on his pregnancy. He loved humming his favorite lullaby to the growing life in his stomach as much as he could. It was one that his parents used to sing to him when he was little.

He used to hum it sometimes when he was happy and spending time with his friends, or to make one of them feel better when they were upset about something. But he tried hard not to think of them as it made him miserable and reminded him of having to give up his soon to be born baby.

The young Seung didn't leave the safety of his home the bigger his belly became, as he didn't want anyone to notice and freak out. But soon his family took him to the Utrom facility so that when he did go into labor, they would be ready.

He had to admit it was nice to be away from the view of Yoshi's house… Albeit in a bittersweet way. At least he had sweet little Hachiko to keep him company. He couldn't believe Saki sent him to live with him.

And though he wasn't keen on seeing Saki any time soon as he was still somewhat traumatized by it, it certainly helped show him that the ravenet was sorry for what had happened.

But sadly, the day came when the baby was due. It was like any other pregnancy, except this one required a C-section to get the baby out since there wasn't any other way, like there was with a woman's body.

His family was kind enough to hold off until Haruhi was healed up before taking the child. That way it would give him some time with his newborn daughter. Haru sang to her as often as he could and fed her when she was hungry.

But it all seemed to pass by so quickly. And soon, his aunt was there to take the child over to Yoshi's house. They didn't think it was right that he be the one to give them the baby, as it was already too painful.

Haruhi was grateful for his thoughtful family, and after a tearful and heart wrenching goodbye, the brunette handed his sweet little Karai over to his aunt to give to Yoshi and Shen.

The only two things that helped him get through it was Hachiko and his little cousin Karina, the silverette daughter of his aunt Haruko. Kari felt bad for the other and so, she crawled up onto the bed with him and cuddled her older cousin.

Hachiko, the dog he had once shared with Saki, was also there; never straying far from his co-master as he lay at the others feet on the bed. It really did help keep him to have the company of his pet and dear cousin, while he sorrowfully sang to Kari, and held her like a child does a teddy bear.

Karina was attune to things like Haru was. She had been exhibiting signs of possessing psionic abilities since about a year or so after she was born. After the incident between he and Saki, Haruhi began to realize his own talents involved sound and vibrations. But it would take him a while before he figured them out.

But his mind was elsewhere, as the halfling went into a state of depression after that, and ended up missing his baby so much, that he began sneaking into Yoshi's house as often as he could just to see her.

He'd wait until they were asleep so he could sing softly to her or feed her. Just something to be close to his offspring. It was like having to give her up all over again whenever he had to leave like a thief in the night, but he knew he couldn't stay.

One night, while he had been holding and humming softly to his daughter, Yoshi came in and caught him. But instead of being happy to see the brunette, the older ninja was fearful and distraught that the other might be found out and his father would go through with his threat to kill the two people he loved most.

Yoshi went and took the child from his arms and placed her back into her crib, before turning around as he quietly and harshly told Haruhi that he shouldn't be there and that he needed to go.

"But… But I just wanted to see her, Yo-kun." He pleaded as tears filled his eyes and ran down his face. Yoshi wanted more than anything to take the other in his arms and make everything better.

Unfortunately for them both, he could not… For all their sakes, he needed the other to understand he must stay away. So he did the only thing he could think of, and broke what remained of Haruhi's fragile heart.

"You need to leave." He gritted out; his head bowed and his hands clenched so tightly into fits that the fingernails were cutting into the palms of his hands. "Go and do not return." His voice was so cold and final that it cut Haru to the quick.

"Y-Yo-kun… you… you don't mean that…!" He breathed; trying to be quiet to avoid waking the baby, but mostly because he was so thunderstruck by how cruel the other was being. Yoshi behaved so differently since having broken up with him.

"Yes, I do. There is nothing for you here, Haruhi. For our daughters sake, you must. Now go!" Yoshi told him; his head snapping up as he did his best to show the other he meant it.

The brunette stood there for a moment; staring with wide eyes full of disbelief. Then, just as Yoshi was worried he might have to use force to make the other leave, the younger ninjas expression hardened with resolve.

"For her…" Was the last thing Yoshi ever heard Haruhi say, before he threw down a smoke pellet and disappeared from the room and the Hamato heirs life… Yoshi despaired about what he had just done, but knew there was no other choice.

After that, Haruhi left Japan; obtaining himself a room at the Utrom facility in America to focus on honing his skills as a Guardian and his developing powers. His aunt, her husband and his father, and their daughter Karina moved to New York City not long after he moved.

His aunt was pregnant with her second daughter, who would later be born and named Akira. And Haruhi would become as involved in their lives as he could, as he grew to love his two little cousins like they were his own. And even more so years later when his aunt died by the hands of the Kraang…

But alas… not very long after going to live in New York, did young Karina begin having terrible nightmares. They were mostly of the same thing, and she would often want Haru to comfort her.

Which meant the halfling spent a lot of nights holding the little silverette and singing to her while she cried and shook in terror before telling him about the nightmare. As best as the child could describe it was a scary monster with long, sharp claws surrounded by flames that kept attacking Kari, with her screaming for it to stop.

It would've been fine, had it not been for the fact that Kari's nightmare seemed to have come true, and that news of Hamato family's demise soon reached them. It seems someone had gone and burned down the house of Yoshi and his family, and that no survivors were found.

They tried to keep the news from him, but Haruhi eventually overheard them talking about it and could do nothing but sink into a dark depression. For a long time, he didn't know what to do and could only cry and wish for the sweet mercy of death if it could make it all better.

His aunt tried to convince him he still had things to live for, and did her best to help distract him with Guardian work and helping her tend to his cousins. She was such a great person, that he would've ended it all after she died, had he not taken it upon himself to look after her sons.

It was the best way he could think to honor her and her wishes for him to be happy and to live. Mostly he stayed at the Utrom facility, but when his family wasn't visiting him, he stayed with them in the spare bedroom. But he didn't go out and about as much as he used to.

He had no idea what had happened to Saki, but caught the rumors here and there amongst certain Guardians that the Foot clan was supposedly being reformed. Haruhi had only known as much about Saki's origins as he did when they were friends; which wasn't much really.

So he didn't really think much of it at the time when he heard it. And as the years passed, and time did its best to try and heal the wounds, Haruhi managed to make a decent life for himself as a full-fledged Guardian and sensei at the Utrom facility.

And actually enjoyed teaching Karina and Akira. As well as his other students, like Jenny, Danny, and Kaia. They became such good friends with little Aki, and for that, Haruhi couldn't help but feel glad.

But as he did his best to settle into his new life and the years passed, a certain man by the name of Oroku Saki would be consumed by anguish at hearing that his beloved Haruhi had left Japan without a trace. And that no one seemed to know where he had vanished to.

It made his heart ache dully. He wanted Haruhi, he'd finally come to terms with that in his own brooding, stubborn way. Saki wanted to have a family with him. To see him holding a child of their own and loving it the way he did Yoshi's, if not more because it was theirs.

He didn't care if they had to adopt or steal one; his brunette would have a baby of his own. And as the twisted gears began to click in his head, an idea that would shatter the lives of all it involved began to formulate in his mind.

In one fell swoop, Oroku Saki, now known as the Shredder, would take revenge on Hamato Yoshi and see how he liked having all that he held dear being ripped away from him! And when that time came about, it was that fated night in which he accidentally killed Tang Shen.

The foolish woman had gotten in the way of a fatal blow meant for Yoshi. But in his venomous thirst for vengeance, combined with the rage his enemy felt for his wife having been murdered, did the two men engage in a battle that would finally end with Saki being the victor.

That was the night everyone thought Hamato Yoshi and little Miwa to have died. But in reality, the Shredder had heard the infants cries and in a surprising act of selfish compassion, saved the child's life and took her to raise as his own, with the hope that he could somehow win back Haruhi and they could be a family…

He even named her Karai; remembering that that's what Haru-chan wanted to name her in the first place. And as the years passed, with no sign of the brunette anywhere, Saki did his best to raise the child and considered her as their daughter, rather than Haru's and Yoshi's.

Meanwhile, when he wasn't in the Utrom facility teaching, Haruhi was traveling around the world and even to other worlds to fight the Kraang. He didn't like staying in one place too long for more than he needed to.

Keeping busy kept his mind off of painful memories. But as the halfling did his best to stay focused in the present, for better or worse, the past was working its crafty way towards catching up with him…

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**This is my first TMNT fic. X3 But I'm pretty psyched about it. Hope you've enjoyed it so far. X3 ****And apologies for the long series of notes in the beginning, but I felt they needed to be put up. :3**

**I got the idea for this whole thing because I found out Casey had a little sister who is so far never shown. I don't care if they do ever show her, because I'm having too much fun writing this and plus it is AU. X3**

**So, anywho I was thinking about stuff as I tend to do a lot more than I probably should LOL, and I figured why not make a fic about the relatives of some of the characters like Casey Jones, but mess around with them to make them my own OC's like a crazy author do! XD **

**Even though "brunette" is technically for girls, I'm using it for Haruhi because he's girly. XD This is my version of the pasts of Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki and how they came to be who they are in the series, so it's definitely AU. X3 **

**I thought it was weird how coolly Splinter takes strange stuff like the existence of aliens, etc. and even Shredder's attitude about it, so I figured they've lived through some pretty unusual stuff. Don't worry, I like Tang Shen and she is still apart of this fic of mine. **

**SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen much of this series, but it's an explanation of things so read at your own risk: Anywho! This will also give a more plausible reason as to why only Karai (a character in the cartoon who appears in the episode "New Girl in Town") seems capable of changing back and forth between her mutant snake form and her human one, and a bunch of other fun stuff. X3**

**I can't help giggling at the fact I probably made Shredder a sympathetic villain, but somehow, he just gives off that type of vibe sometimes. I just always felt there was more to his past than Splinter or the cartoon was letting on. So I wrote my own! X3 Gotta love a tragic love triangle! I**** know some of you might think it odd I made Shredder/Oroku Saki seem like a rather sympathetic type of villain like Loki from the MARVEL movies, etc. but it was actually an interesting accident that such a thing happened. LoL I was trying to give Shredder a more valid reason for hating Splinter than the simple BS reason the media gives you of "WE SAY HE IS EVIL SO YOU MUST THINK SO!" as they shove it in your face oh so rudely, yah know? SO, I went and made up my own reason(s) as to why Saki ended up becoming the Shredder. X3 ****I mean, with the level of hatred Shredder has for Splinter, there had to have been a lot more going on than what the cartoon lets on. LoL At least that's how I feel about it. **

**Any pictures or whatever that I use/used on AO3, are to help give the reader a general idea of how my character(s) look and so forth and because I have fun with them. If RPers and other writers can do it, I don't see why I can't have some fun with it. ****X3 If I had better drawing skills and a scanner, I'd do it myself. But such is not the case, so I mess around with stuff in Paint instead Lmfao. See my disclaimer above for my giving credit to the original artists. **

**If you're wondering why anything seems familiar, it's because everything I write is usually some fun/interesting twist on anything and everything I have ever seen and read (meaning cartoons, movies, shows, books, manga, anime, etc.) so yeah. I turn it around with my imagination and see how I can add it to a fanfic for fun. ****Everything everywhere is inspired or based upon something someone else did to an extent, so don't freak out or start flaming, because I seriously don't care. If you don't like it then don't read it. LoL ****The Utroms are from the 2003 series with my own little spin on them. X3 I liked that version of TMNT because they had superhero type characters too. Plus they had the Guardians. **

**A running joke/gag about some of my OC's for this series is that they are usually mistaken for either a hot/pretty girls/females or boys/males because I feel like it and androgyny is fun. X3 Any language besides English on here is what I learned from the internet, Google Translate, or wherever.**

**Fic may or may not get edited/changed along the way. This fic is also posted up on AO3. LoL The link is in my profile if you wanna check it out. The Guardian's outfit is inspired by the Venom symbiote and the hooded outfits that Organization XIII wore in the second Kingdom Hearts game for the PS2.**

**Until next chapter, tootles! **


	2. Rise of the Turtles Pt 1

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer? Pfft! I barely know her! LoL No, but seriously. It's in chapter 1. XD**

**Author's Note(s): YAY! I finally reached the start of the actual series! XD EPISODE ONE! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! I can't help I had a lot to edit and I'm either lazy or busy. X3**

**Anywho! For those of you TMNT fans out there, yes I DID use the title for the first episode and put my own spin on it for the sake of my OC's being in it and wanting them to feel included. Lmfao! I'm all thoughtful like that. X3 Also the characters like the turtles and my OC's will all be 18 years old and older instead of 15, because to me it just doesn't seem to fit. Anyone in school will be on their last year and so forth, so no worries. :3**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Turtles &amp; the Guardians (in training) Pt 1"<strong>

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><p>As Utroms were known to live up to a ripe old age of at least one thousand years, if something else didn't kill them, Haruhi aged slower than normal humans. He barely looked a day over twenty-three in the approximately eighteen years that passed since he left Japan.<p>

Because his natural talents with sound and vibrations became honed through rigorous training, the dark haired brunette took on the name Soundwave as his Guardian name. He even learned how to combine his powers with the Thread Technique; and that it worked in harmony with his koto strings like it was made to be used that way.

Hopefully that would prove useful for him, as it was a dark night made even more so in the boarded up warehouse, where the Kraang were storing crates full of their weaponry and mutagen. It was one of their off base caches.

Haruhi was dressed in the uniform of a Guardian, which consisted of hooded trench coat and a form fitting suit which covered the wearers entire body; all of which could change and shift to fit the host/wearers needs, and was made of a light yet durable black material that was discovered and modified by the Utroms.

Its design was based upon a fascinating black symbiotic organism they happened upon in their many travels to other worlds, called a symbiote. However, the modifications they made to it for the Utroms suit, made it so it didn't feed off of its host and dominate it or try to kill it somehow; whether on purpose or by accidentally burning out the host.

This one needed its host to survive and worked more like a machine in order to help keep the wearer alive as it would die if the host died. The symbiote suit adapted to its host, which included any mutant powers if they had any. It could form weapons the host needed so long as it was being held; as projectiles would dissolve after a few minutes of being separated from its host.

The suit could form other clothing or simply form around what was being worn; depending on how the host chose to utilize it. The suit could also store things, as it had a sort of sub-space within it that came in quite handy.

It was injected into the bloodstream of the host, and fed upon a small amount of chemicals naturally found and replenished within the body, so that the host was never in any danger of being bothered.

The marvelous alien uniform also provided enough durability to make decent armor, but was light and flexible enough so the wearer could easily maneuver as one could in ordinary clothing. It also provided a protective black facemask that covered up the wearers entire head.

Though the mask could be removed easily and shift in style to a degree to fit what the wearer wanted or needed, it was typically worn so that the wearers nose and mouth were concealed with a filter to keep them safe from toxins, smoke and gasses, and the Kraang atmosphere and to better protect their identity.

Silvery white lenses covered the eyes in a rather wicked looking oval-ish dome shape that had sharp curved points near the top and bottom corners. If anyone in their universe knew about Venom, Black Suited Spider-Man and their version of the symbiotes, and vice versa, they'd say that either one of them would've been jealous to see a symbiotic suit like that.

The Guardians didn't wear any symbol on their uniform as they and the Utroms were all about anonymity; thus no matter what clan you belonged to (if you belonged to one), you didn't have to worry about putting them in any danger or anything. As far as the world knew, the Guardians didn't exist. And that was what they aimed for.

Soundwave crept stealthily from shadow to shadow to survey the area; moonlight casting eerie shadows here and there. The perfect cover for a ninja… or so one might think!

Suddenly, the lights came on. They blared down brightly; leaving hardly any shadows to hide in. But it was too late to try as the brunette had already been spotted. The Kraang droids that had been on guard turned their attention upon him.

More hurried from another room of the warehouse, and the next thing he knew, they had him surrounded; guns aimed and ready to fire. Haru's eyes narrowed slightly as he smirked behind his mask.

He swiftly tossed down a smoke pellet and disappeared in a whirl of bluish purple black smoke. Some of the droids panicked and fired at one another by accident; taking out some of their numbers for him.

Using the distraction to his advantage, he used his powers to increase his speed and almost seemed to have appeared from thin air behind the droids; the strands of his koto strings faintly giving off a silvery glint as they followed the fluid movement of those nimble fingers.

Moving his fingers and hands with a swift finesse that came with years of practice, did the wires wrap themselves around three of the droids and slice them apart as easily as a hot knife through butter.

His koto strings, much like Akira's, were not just any ordinary koto strings, but had been enhanced with one of the special metals from the Utroms world. It was remarkably durable.

And if it had to be described, one could say it was akin to Vibranium from the MARVEL-verse. It was the same material which made up Akira's koto strings, Jenny's arrows, and Kaia's tekko-kagi.

As they blasted at him, the experienced Guardian used his speed and strings to outmaneuver the slow robots and counterattack; relieving the droids and the panicking aliens within them of their weapons and limbs as he went.

When it was all over, and the only thing that remained were the scattered, severed parts of the robots and the splashes of pink Kraang copy pieces all about him, Haruhi exhaled softly and straightened up his composure, while the words "Simulation Complete" echoed in an emotionless computer voice.

The warehouse and everything except for the brunette faded away to reveal the Utroms simulation room. Some small cleaning robots came out of their places in the walls to clean up the parts of the LMD's (Life Model Decoys), while Haruhi looked up at the glass window of the viewing room where his students stood watching and chattering quietly amongst themselves.

"And that, my students, is one way to adapt when one is discovered. Even an environment that appears perfect to conceal ones self in can prove otherwise. Most particularly when the enemies have evolved their equipment to see in the dark as we have." Haru said as his koto strings retracted back into the silvery golden bells between his fingers.

He hung the bells in their usual spot on his hair band underneath of the hood he wore. "Hai Sensei!" His students echoed loudly from their viewpoint. The halfling then proceeded to have each one of them go through the same simulation to see how each faired and could improve.

Each student ran it at least three times depending on how they did; even if they did well. It was all about the practice, and even if it could be draining and aggravating sometimes for them, he taught them that it was better to fail in a simulation than in real life.

His cousin Karina had long since grown into adulthood and become a full-fledged Guardian under his tutelage. She was currently attending college in the city, but lived at home with her little sister Akira to help look after her.

Although, with the way his youngest cousin grew up, he thought Akira didn't need much looking after. She was eighteen now and in her last year of high school. Aki was currently one of the students in his class; for lack thereof or a better name for it.

The students in his class were typically broken off into manageable teams of four and would remain in them until they were full-fledged Guardians. Then if they wanted, they could remain in their team or do otherwise; depending on the mission.

Why a team of four? No one really knew. That's just how the Utroms preferred it. Two teams or more could pair up if it was necessary, but four just seemed to work. Akira's teammates were Malakaia, Danny and Jenny.

Akira was best friends with one of her teammates in particular. Her full name was Jennifer Jones; the little twin sister of Casey Jones who preferred being called Jen or Jenny. But as a Guardian (in training), she was better known as Trickshot.

Aki and her family (minus Haruhi who stayed at the Utrom Facility) lived in the building across the street from Jenny's, and they practically grew up together since Aki's family moved to New York from Japan so many years ago with her older sister Karina and her parents; all three of whom were Guardians, at least until Aki's mom died in the line of duty.

Her full name was Akira Murakami, and because of her still budding body, was sometimes mistaken for a very pretty boy due to having a small cup size. But unlike Jen, she wasn't mocked about it unless by some stupid girls who were just envious of Aki's looks.

Akira took after her cousin Haruhi in the ambiguous yet naturally gorgeous department. Though for the most part, most of the women (and Haruhi) in Aki's family, like her sister, were petite yet sylphlike in their physique.

Hardly any of the girls in their group wore much besides fruity lip gloss, seeing as they had more pressing matters to deal with than spackling on make-up like a skanky clown.

Haruhi was their designated sensei, but when he was on missions, another Guardian would substitute for him. It was usually Karina, as Haru trusted her to do as he would. Aki had a curtain of rich brown hair that fell to her shoulders, and curled inward to frame her delicate features; with bangs that hung above a pair of vibrant deep blue-green almond shaped eyes.

Like those in her family, and even Jenny, Aki had a sylphlike form that most women in general would've killed for, and had a creamy complexion. Most people often told Aki how much she looked like her sister or cousin Haruhi had when he was that young; whom ironically had also been mistaken for the wrong gender on more than one occasion.

Aki was the same age as Jenny, so they were a bit tied in the group as being the two youngest; even if they were eighteen now, as well as the two of the three girls in their group who had the smallest chest pillows.

Akira was about an inch shorter than Jen though, but she was no less lethal in battle, and definitely earned the name Livewire for more reasons than one. She had the ability to manipulate electricity but was still learning about it; just as the rest of her team were learning about their powers.

Like her cousin, had figure out how to use it to better control her weapon to make it more useful and deadly. Her silvery koto strings were housed in within the sub-space of her symbiotic suit rather than bells, and could be accessed via the spot over the pulse point of her wrists when her suit was on or when it formed over them.

And although she was the youngest, Akira was chosen as the leader of the group as she was the most mature and responsible of their misfit lot. After finding out they shared the fact that they were both mutants, their friendship only grew stronger.

Now Jenny earned the name Trickshot due to her skill with arrows and the bow which her suit formed, and partially to do with how she had the ability to charge objects (such as her arrows) with kinetic energy and use them in different ways as projectile weapons.

Jen's ability to tap kinetic energy also grants her incredible superhuman physical abilities such as; strength, speed, reflexes and reactions, agility, flexibility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance.

And to an extent, being able to heal quicker than most humans with a higher resistance to damage. Which came in handy, as the boom happy boffin was used to getting burned, zapped, and a whole array of other bodily harming things which came with her inventing and their fighting.

The reason being because her body constantly generated bio-kinetic energy, and so was perfectly constructed for constant motion. This, and the fact that she was athletic from all the time she spent training and playing sports like hockey with her brother, gave her an added edge of being proficient in acrobatics; a must have for any ninja.

She also had the ability to create static, because of the charged potential energy always in her body, that help to shield her mind from detection and intrusion by those with telepathic abilities like Aki's big sister Karina. Though she is still working on trying to master this so as to have an advantage against the Kraang.

Jenny may be the twin sister of Casey Jones, but as he was older than her by several minutes, Jen was considered the "little" sister. They were by no means identical in appearance, for her hair was long, wavy and flowed passed her slender shoulders; with somewhat fluffy bangs that were parted slightly more to the right. And it was all held back by a yellow ribbon done up in a cute bow.

Somehow it was such an odd shade of red that it ended up looking somewhat magenta, but it oddly suited her, and matched well with her striking green eyes. And unlike her brother who liked the punkish grungy look with the colorful spatterings of paint all on his clothes, she preferred to dress a bit more cleanly.

And he sometimes teased her "classy style" by saying stuff like "No wonder no one can tell we're twins, or heck, even related." But she found this more comical than insulting, as he did kinda have a point, no matter how down to earth she was.

Jen wasn't vain by any means; she just didn't like looking or feeling gross. Jenny liked to look good and feel good. However, she still enjoyed dressing in comfy stuff and could be a bit of a tomboy with her choices of style.

Essentially, she looked like a cuter, younger, female version of her big brother with a lean, svelte build from all the training she did; looking gracefully and attractively thin, despite being two or three inches shorter than Casey.

Due to her taut build, her breasts were firm and not flabby like some girls. This meant, at least for her anyways, that they weren't huge or anything as her body was still maturing, but she was sometimes teased by girls jealous about having smaller breasts than them, that she was sometimes called "Flat Chest" by the asshats she went to school with because she had a lot of redeeming features.

Such as how she was a mad genius, had the "Jones Family" hotness (as Casey referred to it as) and long, willowy legs that more than made up for what she lacked in the chest department. Even if she was sometimes a bit self-conscious about it, Jen tried not to care about something so silly.

The next one in their group was the tallest of the four. His name was Daniel Astin, or Danny for short. But he liked to call himself Nightwatcher; as even after the nightly patrols he and his team sometimes did, he and his close friend Savage (aka Kaia) liked scouring the city for regular human thugs to beat up when they hadn't seen any action for a while.

He was nineteen, just a year younger than Kaia who was twenty years old. He had amber brown eyes that seemed to change shade depending on the light, and a head full of slightly spiky ash-brown hair to match; his bangs were short and varied in length with a few of the smaller strands reaching just to his eyebrows. The style fit his bright laidback personality.

He had a slightly sun kissed, very wiry physique. His willowy limbs adding to the attractive gracefulness such a mellow yet sunny guy like Danny had. And while he was the only male on his team, he didn't mind.

Mostly because he knew his teammates would respect that, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting hit on or anything, since he was also bisexual, but preferred cute guys to girls.

Danny could manipulate light energy to create his own weapons and teleport short distances. He preferred using simple weapons like a staff or blades, but with the way he was learning to control his power, it was really all he needed.

Malakaia Milton, also called Kai or Kaia, but better known as Savage may have been the last member of their team, but she was far from the least. She was the oldest of the team; beating Danny by only a year, but she was the second shortest of the team of four, as Akira was the shortest and Danny was the tallest.

Kaia could be rather cocky at times, but to anyone who really knew her like her team did, she was actually a pretty chill young woman. Kai had long curly pumpkin orange blonde hair that she wore twirled up in ringlet pigtails with black X-like styled bows and slightly spiky short bangs that was parted more to the left.

She had a pair of bright topaz eyes which only seemed to add to her naturally cute appearance. It often led to people underestimating her; at least until she flashed a toothy grin and they noticed the two pointy fang-like canines she proudly sported.

Like her teammates, she had a lissome form from training. Though she was shapelier in the chest region than the other two girls as hers were the biggest. Savage was pretty cool despite her occasionally psychotic and violent tendencies in a fight.

Kaia had the uncanny ability of Animal Mimicry; where she could take on the traits of animals to enhance herself physically or otherwise, like giving herself the keen eyesight of an eagle, the speed of a cheetah, or the nigh-indestructibility of a cockroach.

In Danny's opinion, she was pretty badass, and definitely someone they knew would have their backs when shit hit the fan; as Danny in particular knew from experience. Yep, if there was ever a more eager warrior type than himself that loved playing hero, it was none other than Kai.

If her closest friend Daniel had to describe her, he'd probably say she was like the female Deadpool of their group; although Dan would have to admit she was thankfully just somewhat saner than the bat-crap crazy mercenary.

But eh, he was biased and not exactly the poster boy for sanity himself, so one couldn't really take his word in regards to her sanity. At least that's how a comic lover like Danny would describe her if they got MARVEL comics in their dimension/universe.

They may have had their differences, some of which they were still working on, but the four of them got along pretty well and had been through enough together to know they could count on each other.

After training, Haruhi and two other Guardians split the class into their respective teams and went out on patrol. Until a certain point in their training, the students had to be escorted by a Guardian to prevent anything unfortunate from happening. The purpose of taking them on patrol with them was to help the students get the feel for it, as well as the experience; whether they found anything or not.

Haruhi was a mutant in his own right, being a halfling and all, so he was expected to keep an eye on the team in his class who were mutants; being better able to handle them just in case it was necessary.

Depending on how each night went, varied on the time which they were done with patrol. Tonight it hadn't lasted very long, but combined with the hours they put in at the "school", they were all pretty beat by the time Haruhi called it a night.

They were finally out of their ninja uniform though, and back in their regular clothes. Not that they minded the Guardian outfit, but, heheh, it just didn't do when they were trying to pretend to be "normal" people.

Jenny's ninja garb seemed to melt away underneath of her clothing, to reveal that she had on a pair of slightly baggy dark grey cargo pants, black sneakers, a blue T-shirt with the cute yellow star from the Super Mario Brothers game on it, and a black denim jacket. Her dress style wasn't too far off from her big brothers, as she loved being comfortable, but she preferred her clothing looking cleaner than his.

Danny had on some casual clothing; a white T-shirt with a light blue button up shirt over it that was unbuttoned, white sneakers and blue jeans. Simple, but cozy and yet stylish. They were coming from the Utrom facility where they trained.

Akira had on a simple dark blue pleated skirt and a creamy pale yellow blouse with and brown shoes that resembled Mary Jane shoes but were much comfier. She dressed a bit more casually than her older sister Karina; who had a slight Goth flare to the style she dressed in.

Malakaia sported a lavender T-shirt with a pattern of black butterflies on it, light blue bellbottom jeans, a light, hooded grey jacket with a white fluffy fake rabbit fur ruffle around the trim, and cute tan boots.

"Ugh… man I'm tired…" Jenny sighed as she stretched her arms; arching her back slightly as she left with her teammates. "At least you get to go home. Danny and I have to clock into work soon." Malakaia told the redhead with a chiding tone. The orangette found it silly the other saw any reason to complain.

"Knowing Jen-chan, she'll probably head to the library or go scavenging." Akira said with that light Asian accent and cool tone of hers and a knowing smirk. "Ooo! Seriously?! Hey, Jenny, if you do, can you try to keep an eye out for the usual?" Danny asked a tad excitedly.

The "usual" meaning comics, games, anime, or whatever other interesting type of geek paraphernalia people tended to throw away. It was amazing some of the stuff Jen had actually found, so she told him she would, and he thanked her with a happily hopeful mood that she would find something good for him.

They chatted, joked, laughed, and did what most "normal" teenager friends their age did; even if their choices of conversation or humor wasn't based on what non-powered humans thought of as normal.

Like when they spoke about their training and playfully ribbed those of their team that messed up. "Oh come on! That's funny! You could've totally owned that freaking round of practice if you hadn't accidentally thought of the wrong animal." Jenny teased mirthfully.

"I mean, who thinks eyes of a bat when they were trying to think eyes of a cat?!" The redhead clutched her stomach as she laughed even harder; remembering how Kaia ended up slamming hard face first into a crate and falling over after ending up being blind as a bat rather than being able to see in the dark like a cat as she had intended.

Kaia frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, well at least I didn't blow up part of the simulation room like you did." The orangette smirked smugly at seeing how flustered the previously laughing redhead became.

"I didn't mean to! How was I supposed to know charging my Roller Bombs was a bad idea?!" She argued; obviously feeling bad for having caused damage she hadn't meant to.

Haruhi sensei had been rather cross with her and made her run the simulation three more times without using her powers or anything that went boom, which was a punishment in itself to the redhead. "Heh, well the fact that they were already explosive should've given it away, Ms. Smartypants." Kaia only laughed when Jen stuck her tongue out at her.

The older girl's smirk softened to a smile and she gave their groups tech-spert a friendly pat on the back that almost knocked the redette over. Jenny frowned slightly but then ended up joining in the mirth as they changed the subject to how cool they thought Haruhi's run of the sim had been.

Kaia and Danny went their own way at one point so they could go to work at the comic book shop Danny's dad ran, named Mirage Comic Shop. Jenny walked Akira to the restaurant her grandfather Mr. Murakami ran called 24/7.

Like their other two friends, Akira worked part-time with her blind grandfather after school and training. She worked as a waitress and helped him out however she could. Aki knew her grandfather was more than capable of taking care of himself.

But with the Purple Dragon gang nearby bothering other places and knowing they liked to pop in to 24/7 form time to time, she wanted to make sure he was safe. The brunette especially wasn't very fond of the one known as Xever, who occasionally showed up with them…

Jenny went in and stayed long enough to say hello to Aki's grandfather before leaving her friend to work, as he was a cool and very nice guy and she got along rather well with Aki's family.

But her brunette friend was right in saying she'd probably go to the library. Before she left to go off with her friend, and Casey went to the rink to get in some practice as he did most days, he asked for her help with a project he had to do for school.

So she figured she'd get some books to help him out. Jenny wanted him to do some of the reading and work himself, as was their agreement for when she helped him with his studies.

And though he could be less than thrilled about it, Casey found he did retain what he learned better, so he couldn't really sass her methods but so much. She ended up there for about a half hour before leaving.

She had a few more hours to kill before she knew her brother would realize what time it was and head home. He usually loved practicing at the rink until the freakin' place started closing down; which was pretty late.

Jen didn't really feel like sitting there just to watch him tonight. Besides, it was the best time to go scavenge some at one of the junkyards she liked to frequent. So she went and spent some time there.

Though it was slim pickings, as it could be sometimes, the redette was a bit pleased to have found a handful of small parts she could work with and an action figure from what looked like some Power Ranger looking cartoon.

That night, as Jenny turned the corner down the dimly lit sidewalk with her hands in the pockets of her jacket and some freshly scavenged goodies in her backpack while on her way home, the young Jones had no idea her life was about to get a whole lot more complicated…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Yay! My other four OC's have been properly introduced! X3 I have 6 altogether I think, but the 6th one (Karina) will be in her own fic as I have mentioned. I'm working on it, but if anyone wants to be updated when I do post it up on here, just follow me (the author). :D Hope that helps.**

**For the most part, the episodes WILL be going in order, but my OC's may or may not show up in every episode, as April and other characters are absent from certain episodes and I just felt it more fun that way. LoL Also I may have chapters between certain episodes during the time not shown in the show for the characters and my OC's to do other stuff. So yay for that.**

**Until next time... Tootles!**


	3. Rise of the Turtles Pt 2

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Finished episode one for the most part. The second one will show what my other three OC's were up to while Jen was busy with the turtles. LoL**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Turtles (&amp; the Guardians in training) Pt 2"<strong>

It was on the night the four teenage mutant ninja turtles had left their lair to go out and explore the city for the first time; all of them being eighteen and eager to see and experience new things like all youths their age. However, the three of them paused as they heard their tallest brother gasp loudly and call to them.

Donnie had been having his whole "wow that ginger haired girl is so pretty" moment, after seeing April walking into view and then ending up in a bit of a conversation with his brothers, when he noticed stuff was going on down below.

A white van had just pulled up with some strange looking identical guys in black suits who were trying to kidnap April and her father. Donnie gasped as he saw they were in big trouble, but none of them seemed to notice the redhead across the street from the scene who was also surveying the situation.

"We gotta save 'em!" Donnie exclaimed; starting to feel in a panic that she might be in danger. But as he was about to go and save the ginger haired girl they would later come to know as April, Leo's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Splinter's instructions were _very clear_. We're supposed to stay away from people. And bathrooms…!" Leo said with a slightly yet comically paranoid look at the last bit; like the public bathrooms might jump out and attack or something.

Raph and Leo argued for a moment, when the purple banded ninja got tired of listening and told them he was going anyway, before jumping down to save the ginger haired girl… and maybe her dad too.

Meanwhile, Jenny had been about to cross the street when a white van screeched to a halt in front of a teenage girl with orange ginger looking hair and an older guy who looked like he might be her dad.

As soon as the van stopped, a bunch of strange looking dudes that Jen recognized as Kraang Droids in disguise, hopped out and started trying to take the two gingers away. Sure, she hadn't been out on any solo missions before against the Kraang, but being a Guardian in training and a good person in general, Jenny wasn't about to let two innocent people get hurt on her watch. But she WOULD have to be VEEEERY careful about how she did it.

She crouched down while taking off her backpack to leave it there for safekeeping as she assessed the situation, when all of a sudden movement on the ground of four shadows passing over caught her attention, and then the sudden sound of someone saying "Hey!" as she noticed it was… a turtle?

It was a tall, but still kinda short, anthropomorphized looking turtle with a red band over his eyes like some kind of ninja. Huh… Well that was unexpected. Jenny couldn't use her bow and arrows as she typically would have, nor form a weapon with the symbiotic pitch substance of the suit.

So improvising, she grabbed the metal lid of the trashcan beside her and took off with it to wield like a shield style weapon to join the fray; since the red banded turtle, and what must be his teammates, weren't exactly doing a good job of dealing with the Kraang droids.

They must be new to this sort of thing. Well, her and her team kind of were too. She didn't want to blow her cover of who she was just yet. After all, Jen didn't know if these turtles were friend or foe. Just because they were fighting the Kraang didn't mean they were on the side of humans.

For all she knew they wanted the two gingers for their own sinister purposes. And quite frankly, there wasn't time for that now to figure it all out as she saw one of the Kraang creeps had the ginger girl over his shoulder.

Donnie had heard April's cry for help and had turned to aid her, when a blur of red caught his eye as the lovely redheaded teen charged at the suited creep and knocked the shell outta him with a flying kick to the head, before spinning around as her feet touched the ground, and throwing her weight against the shield to knock take the robot down for the count.

It was a good thing she wasn't using any of her arrows or explosives, as she had no idea what these turtles knew about the Kraang, and didn't feel like leaving any evidence for them to examine. It seemed to make better sense just to try and get the two gingers away as fast and best she could without making much trouble.

Her double attack knocked the droid off his feet and made him drop April, whom Jen went to help up, but was then attacked from behind by another droid; who lifted her up by her throat as she turned around to defend herself. It was about to do God knows what to her as her makeshift shield fell from her hand when she tried to get free. Then, that droid was sent flying by the bo staff that collided with him.

The sudden and harsh impact sent her up in the air a ways, and she was about to fall, when someone caught her. "Gotcha!" Said the voice of her savior. And as she looked to see who it was, Jen's eyes widened as she stared into the face of an olive green skinned turtle with a purple band.

At first she had been a bit afraid of what he might do to her, but when it struck her that this turtle had been the one who saved her, and then… the way he smiled at her like he did as his own surprise wore off, her expression started to soften.

Huh… Donatello hadn't been expecting that to happen. He hadn't even noticed the redheaded girl until she saved the ginger haired one. And though he was glad for her assist, Donnie saw the redhead in trouble and acted on instinct to save her before he realized what he was doing.

When he caught her, the young terrapin hadn't been expecting their eyes to meet like they did, or for him to be caught off guard by how cute the rosy haired female was. She had such deep green, soulful eyes…

He hadn't realized he'd been staring or smiling all dreamily until the sound of the ginger girls screaming snapped him out of it, and he realized he was staring romantically into the eyes of the wrong girl; but not before he ended up freaking out a bit too.

Jenny had just been about to return the smile with one of her own, but then there was a sound of shrill screaming that came across from them as April looked over to see a giant freaky looking monster that may or may not be a frog or lizard or whatever, who was holding some poor, innocent girl; and it totally ruined the moment.

And it was then the ginger wondered if he might be there to help the guys kidnap them. When he heard the scream, it freaked Donnie out and so when he looked over at the screaming face of April, he ended up screaming too.

It hurt Jen's ears and especially her bottom when his little freak out caused him to drop her. "Ow!" Jenny yelped as she fell flat on her butt, while Donnie tried to do damage control with the screamer, as April quickly backed herself up beside Jenny.

"No, no, no. No. Don't worry. We're the good guys." But all it did was make April scream even more. "Yeah, seriously girl. Shut up." Jen chided as she rubbed her throat where the robots viselike grip had held it; she was sure a bruise would probably form later, if it hadn't already. Thankfully within a few hours, if not sooner, her powers would mend it; no problem.

Donnie couldn't help frowning slightly at the redhead chiding the other, but at the same time kinda grateful considering she wasn't freaking out like the ginger girl was. Jen took the purple banded turtles word for now that they were the good guys and saw no reason yet not to trust them.

She'd met bad people before, and this particular turtle didn't give off that vibe. Not with the sweet way he'd smiled at her when he caught her, or the fact he'd helped her at all. He then turned to April who was freaking out as the creeps closed in.

"It's okay." And as he held out his hand, the ginger realized it too, and had been about to take his hand when Donnie got bopped upside the head with a nun chuck. But before any of them could react any further, Donnie and Mikey were hit and sent flying into some trashcans, while Jen turned back to fight the robot who did it.

Had she not been having to tone down her skills, and been so worn out from all the training she'd done and fighting her way through the droids to get to the ginger and been able to use her powers, Jenny might've had the stamina required to dodge a sneak attack, as the droids closed around her and April and zapped her with some kind of taser from their hands because she was putting up quite a fight.

The jolt stunned her long enough for them to get her in the back of the van and start tying her up; which they were surprisingly quick at doing. The droid pushed off the quiver of arrows so she couldn't do them any more harm as it carried her off.

Donnie got up just in time to see the droid hop into the back of the van with the redhead over his shoulder before the door closed and the vehicle sped off. "Huh? They're getting away! They got the girls!" Donnie cried in a panic as he took off after them; hoping like shell he'd get to the ginger and the curious redhead in time before anything bad happened to them, and maybe the guy too.

Luckily for Jen, her closest friend and teammate Akira was also on her way home after helping out her grandfather, when she noticed the sound of commotion nearby and went to check it out.

Aki had been traveling by rooftop ninja style, when she happened upon the scene in time to see Jenny getting tasered by some Kraang goons, and taken away in a van that was followed by some ninja turtle looking creature that reminded her of the kappa from old Japanese folktales her cousin used to tell her.

Surveying the scene, she noticed Jenny's backpack on the ground and went to fetch the bag, so that no one would steal it. It must've either been quite a scuffle or Jen had been tired; though she knew the redhead had been pretty beat. Training could get pretty rough some times.

Leaving the backpack on the roof beside her own, did Aki check her phone to see if it could track Jen's with the app the redhead had created for their phones. All the while her kunoichi garb formed over her clothing, before heading off in the direction her friend had been taken, as she called in the rest of their ragtag team.

Thankfully, the effects of the tasing Jen had gotten began to wear off, but she couldn't help being curious as to why the Kraang wanted those two humans so badly. Sure, they'd probably taken her just because she'd caused trouble and could use her to experiment on or whatever, but why the two gingers?

Maneuvering her bound hands around to get the phone out of her pocket, she managed to secretly send a text to Akira; having memorized the keys due to her photographic memory, which she had since as long as she could remember, but no one knew whether or not it was the result of her mutant powers or not.

Said brunette was currently chasing after the van and had been about to bust it open when she heard her phone buzz. Flipping it open, she wasn't too surprised to see a text from Jen. _"Captured by Kraang. In back of van w/ 2 civies they were after. Follow & observe. Want 2 know Y they want these ppl." _

It wasn't Jen's usual use of grammar and spelling, but all things considering, it was what she sent when time was not permitting for much eloquence, as civies meant civilians or regular people.

Akira sent back a simple "K" that Jen managed to read when the aliens weren't looking, after having wriggled her bound hands from behind her back and under her legs so they were in front of her, and hung back until the Kraang reached their base.

She found a nice perch and waited for the other two to show up, and to see if Jen sent any more messages. And while Akira waited, leave us turn back the clock a bit to just before their two other teammates Danny and Kaia were contacted…

Danny and his friend were in the middle of closing adn had been in the middle of a conversation about a manga series he'd let her borrow called "Hellsing", and they were discussing how wickedly awesome it was, when his cell phone began ringing.

It was their team leader Akira calling to tell him they had a mission and for him and Kaia to come meet her. He asked if he should call Jenny, and Aki told him that Jenny was the mission as she had been captured by Kraang, but that she'd tell him more once he and Kaia arrived at the address she was texting to him.

Danny was a pretty mellow guy, but he could be easily and overly excited about going on patrol, as he did like their secret hero role. At least that's what he called it. At having been listening to what was being said on both ends with the use of her powers to enhance her hearing, Kaia became a bit irked and tried to snatch the phone away from Danny to find out what had happened to Jen.

Kaia didn't like it when one of their team was in trouble. Much less in the slimy clutches of the Kraang. The orangette could be rather cocky at times, but to anyone who really knew her like her team, she was probably the most level headed of the group next to Akira.

Finally though, he managed to trip Kai so she fell flat on her butt to keep her from grabbing the phone. Then he ended up sweat dropping at the death glare she gave him for it; her eyes becoming beastly catlike slits. No matter how many times he saw it, it still freaked him out some.

He flashed her an apologetic, sheepish smile as he hung up and plucked out a strawberry lollipop and held out the peace offering to the glaring girl as she got to her feet and brushed herself off.

Kai snatched the sweet agitatedly from his hand and after unwrapping it, popped it into her mouth and took a moment to quell the urge to punt him over to the video rental place they were near. Danny knew better than to try and pester her during that type of moment and to offer a sweet since it was sort of her weakness.

There was a reason Kai's Guardian name was Savage, and he'd seen plenty of times for himself as they trained and fought side by side in battle as to exactly why that was. And Danny wasn't dumb enough to make an enemy out of her.

Especially since they had a lot in common, and had known each other for quite a few years. And as she cooled off, they headed someplace to change, as their clothing was swallowed up into a writhing inky black mass that replaced their regular garb with their Guardian styled ninja attire.

They each reached into the backpacks they stored in the staff room and fetched out their weapons, before the pair of ninjas set off toward their assigned designation; making sure to lock up before they left.

They met up with Akira on the top of some building that was as close as they could get to the Kraang base without being seen, where their leader had been waiting. They were told to wait until Jenny gave them the signal, before informing them of the situation as she knew it to be. So, after that, while they waited, Danny and Kai went back to their conversation as Aki patiently kept vigil.

When the Kraang weren't paying attention, she would send Aki an update about where they were. Jenny made sure the two humans she was with didn't see her texting either. It was bad enough the ginger girl was dumb enough to try attacking that one droid so pitifully. Had it been a regular human creep, it might've had better results.

They ended up having to wait around for quite a while before things began to happen, and Jen was starting to get bored and annoyed by the whining the two gingers were doing.

The father was pathetically the biggest crybaby she'd seen so far, and couldn't help wishing she could zap him with one of her inventions. The girl she'd come to learn was called April wasn't as bad.

Chatty, but not as annoying. Jen peered at her phone, which she had put on silent, and noticed a text telling her about a van crashing into the base outside and some mutant turtle creatures were climbing up the wall; having used the van as a distraction.

Danny and Kaia were agreeing how hot the comic character Alucard was. "I don't know. I mean, yeah, he's hot. There's no denying that. But I can't help finding Captain Pip to have been cuter." Danny commented; preferring the style the character had been drawn and portrayed in as it was less freaky than the vampire Alucard.

"He's cool, but I can't help but love Alucard's style in battle. That guy really knows how to have a good time!" Malakaia giggled darkly. "But… I do feel bad for him. He's just got such a sweet soft side y'know?" She added thoughtfully.

Danny gave a nod of agreement before they heard Aki's phone buzzing after the crashing van incident had occurred. Danny and Kaia couldn't believe there were ninja turtles involved now, but the ash-brunette found it kind of exciting; like something out of a comic book he commented.

Jen's message told them if the turtles were there that they might as well head on in since they seem to have set off an alarm. Jen was surprised to see the familiar face of the purple banded turtle pop up as he called out "We found 'em!" to someone, or rather someone's, whom she guessed were the other three.

"Don't worry! I'll have you out of there in a second." Donnie told them; mostly speaking to April, but sparing his reassuring smile to the redhead who was standing beside her with her arms crossed and looking slightly irked for some reason.

"Okay, giant lizard thing." April said uncertainly. "He's a turtle." Jenny corrected coolly and politely, much to Donnie's happy surprise. "Y-yeah, um, I'm… I'm Donatello." He said in a bashful way as the redhead came over to get a better look out the small window with April. "I'm Jenny." Jen said with a smile.

"And I'm April." The lovely ginger smiled too, but hers made him almost melt into another doki doki moment; which Jen thought was odd until she realize Donatello must be crushing on April. "Wow, that's a pretty… Egh!" He started out saying, before one of the other turtles smashed him up against the door.

"The lock, Donnie!" The blue banded ninja scolded exasperatedly. "Yeahoh, right, yeah! Sorry." And with that he went back to trying to open the lock. Jen pressed her hands against the glass as she tried to watch him.

"Not to rush you, but hurry up!" April said impatiently; peeking over Jen's shoulder. Jenny frowned at her. "It's alien tech. Give him a break." The redhead scolded just loud enough for April to hear. The ginger bowed her head as they heard Donnie's muffled voice.

"Hey! You think it's easy trying to pick a lock with these hands?" He asked while showing them his three fingered hands. Jenny shot her a look that was all "bitch I told you so!" as she raised a brow.

"Uh, sorry…" April apologized. "Have you tried just busting it? Typically locks that require a power source and a set-up like that can short out and open if you just trash it." Jenny offered; trying to make her advice seem logical and plausible without blurting out that she knew how to freaking open it, which was slightly frustrating.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, she had to keep the fact that she was a mutant and a Guardian secret or risk putting everyone she cared about in danger. The Kraang weren't THAT stupid.

And seeing as the turtles were trying to help and her team was on the way, there wasn't any reason to blab about it. She still didn't know the turtles well enough to give away her secret identity.

She would've just donned her ninja garb and taken out all the Kraang earlier, but that would've meant the turtles and the two humans seeing her in her Guardian uniform, and then they might've been trying to find out who she was and who she worked for. Which could get her in trouble. Anonymity and the shadows were a ninjas best friends.

"Yeah, but if it doesn't work-" Donnie began; having been impressed by the idea, but not wanting to end up making the wrong choice. Thankfully, Raph had heard what the redhead said and thought it was the smartest thing he'd heard all day; he couldn't help wondering why Donnie wasn't gushing over the cute, smart redhead. And after Donnie started stuttering and failing to get results, he decided to _cut in_.

"Oh, for the love of... Get out of my way!" The angry red banded ninja pushed Donatello out of the way, and began violently stabbing at the lock until it opened. But by the time it opened, the Kraang had grabbed the two O'Neil's and Jenny and began taking them someplace else as the turtles followed close behind.

"What the hell do you want with us anyway?" Jenny demanded; disliking how roughly they were treating her and April. She wasn't too worried about the whiny dad. "That is for Kraang to know, one called human."

"Oh great, a goon with a bad sense of humor." She muttered sarcastically to herself before looking down to see the turtles and some freaky looking plant mutant. "What the…?"

Jenny couldn't leave the other two with the Kraang. She'd try to stick with them as long as she could to make sure they didn't get killed or worse, and hopefully find out why the Kraang wanted them so bad, before getting them all to safety.

But it seemed the turtles, or at least one purple banded one in particular, was not going to allow the Kraang to take them. During the mid-air scuffle, Donnie took out one Kraang droid with a ninja star, and it caused April to fall out.

Jenny dove after her, and Donnie seeing this followed suit. She managed to grab a hold of the ginger and after having to jump down a few times, landed crouched on her feet with the freaked out girl in her arms.

Donnie landed beside them, looking wide eyed and amazed by the redheads skill, but also disappointed by not being the one who got to catch April. "You okay?" He asked breathily. Jen gave a nod, but frowned at the saddened look on April's face when she saw the girl all depressed about them not being able to save her dad.

"Let's get you to safety first, April." Jen told her quietly, and April gave a nod; the other girls coolness under pressure of the situation oddly comforting. To April, Jen gave off a cool, protective sisterly vibe. The three of them headed over to see what the three turtles were up to.

Upon seeing them leading the plant creature towards the power conduits, and hearing Donnie's remarks about how that tactic could prove to be really stupid or genius, Jenny smirked. "I'd have to say both. That blue masked friend of yours is pretty clever." She commented as she watched Leo taunting Snakeweed.

Donnie didn't like that one bit, and for some odd reason felt a small pang of jealousy. "That's my brother, and he's not _that_ smart." He corrected somewhat poutingly. Jen raised an eyebrow wondering what bug crawled up his shell.

But the explosion of mutant plant bits getting showered everywhere was a bit distracting. "Well I'm off salad forever." Jen quipped while wrinkling her nose at the smell of burning mutant plant, before Donnie's brothers came over, and they got the heck out of there.

On the way, she sent a text. _"Sorry guys. Gotta leave the party early to see the girl home. You'll have to have fun without me for now. Keep you posted." _Aki frowned slightly at it, but gave a shrug. A kunoichi has to do what a kunoichi has to do.

Her, April and the turtles ended up at some apartment above an antique shop called "Second Time Around", on the fire escape. "Are you gonna be all right?" Donnie asked April; worried the whole experience may have traumatized her or something.

""I guess. My aunt says I can stay here as long as I want." April replied miserably. "But I'll be a lot better when I track down the creeps that took my dad." She finished angrily. Jen could relate. If anything ever happened to Casey, she'd burn the world to get him back.

"Hey, are you okay, Red?" Raph asked Jen quietly as he gave her forearm a little nudge with his elbow; trying to sound cool and not like he cared. But it reminded Jen of Casey and she smiled some and gave a nod while quipping. "Yeah. Thanks for asking, _Red_."

The red banded ninja blinked, but found it amusing. "It's Raph." He informed smirkingly. "Jenny." She replied in kind just as coolly. Raph gave a curt nod; his smirk widening as they turned back to the conversation that was going on between the rest. Seriously, why wasn't Donnie all gaga over this Jenny chick? She seemed kinda cool. And not at all weak and helpless like the April kid.

The blue banded ninja asked some stupid question about if the police would help, and Jenny couldn't help thinking they must be new to things if they didn't know how screwed the legal system was, but thankfully April set them straight.

"April, I promise you we will not rest until we find him." Donnie stated; wanting to impress April by being heroic, and feeling rather stoked when he saw the slight look of surprise and then the small smile that followed.

Wow, Donatello was really nice, Jenny thought. Though, if he hadn't offered, she would have, and would undoubtedly be doing her own investigating. "We won't?" The red banded ninja asked, before the blue one elbowed him and said "No, we won't."

"Thank you, but it's not your fight." April told them appreciatively. '_Okay Donnie, deep breath. Gotta show how devoted I am to the cause. Girls like that… right?' _He thought as he wanted to show he was a caring, sensitive guy as he told April

"Yes, it is." And placed his hand on her knee. Okay… maybe a bit much, but so far April didn't look mad or upset by that. In fact, he ended up blushing when she beamed hopefully at him.

He was glad he kept it together long enough not to make any weird giggles or lovey gaga sounds. He merely scooted away as his brothers began to leave after giving their own little wave or whatever.

But not before Raph gave Jenny a nod like cool people do, and he smirked a bit when she mimicked the gesture in reply, before smacking Mikey upside the head for trying to give her the nod too and only making himself look like his usual goofy self; which made Jen chuckle lightly and slightly embarrass Raph.

The brainy ninja hurried up the building to the roof after his brothers. But he lingered and turned around to smile down at the ginger and waved. Jenny felt her smile widen as she watched them jump off and disappear into the night. "I better get going too. Are you sure you're gonna be okay by yourself?" Jen couldn't help asking even though she felt worn the heck out.

"Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate your saving me and all." April said; having not forgotten how the other had leapt from the helicopter to save her. "Ah, you'd have done the same for me." Jen said; giving her the "Aw shucks" routine to help lighten the air.

It worked some as the ginger giggled at the way the previously calm and collected girl goofily rubbed the back of her head and smiled toothily like it wasn't such a big deal. "Well, thanks anyways." April said again.

Jen gave a nod and after a few minutes of conversing and asking if she knew why the Kraang were after her and her dad and ending up with nothing, they exchanged numbers, and then she bid the ginger goodnight before leaving to get away and find out what her teammates were up to, when she got a message from Akira. Well, she may be tardy to that party, but Jen sure as heck wasn't going to miss the after party.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Hope you liked it. Remember to review if yah did. **


	4. Party Time Guardian Style

**Disclaimer: Ch 1. **

**Author's Note(s): Cool. :3 I got up this chapter before I thought I would. **

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"Party Time Guardian Style"<strong>

After getting the text from Jen telling them to go ahead and come on in since the turtles set the alarm off, Akira, Danny and Kaia got their weapons ready and grabbed onto Danny; who photoported them behind the Kraang.

He quickly ported them again and this time, they luckily landed away from them and found an entrance by which to enter. As Nightwatcher couldn't teleport anywhere safely unless he had some idea of where he was going. The ash-brunet didn't want to end up in a wall or anything by accident since he could only travel short distances anyways.

A minute or two later, and they were in! Livewire used one of the acid pellets Jen made for them, to melt through the lock on the door, while Savage guarded her and Danny was the lookout.

Even if it was one of the smaller bases, it was still pretty big. Danny couldn't help but smirk and quietly comment to Kaia about how the Kraang were compensating for something what with how huge they had to make everything; and they had a good snicker about it, while Aki rolled her eyes and hoped they'd find Jen soon.

They managed to make it a ways in, not finding anything but a few rooms full of mutagen, as the alarm blared. They had to be careful with Kraang running around everywhere. But they simply made sport of the aliens panicked state to better get the drop on them as they crept through the base.

"Ugh… why'd we have to come here on amateur night?" Livewire growled lightly as they ducked into a room when a bunch of Kraang droids raced by to handle the intruders. "Ah stop whining, Sparky. It's more fun this way." Savage chided, sounding in a good mood as she kept her attention on when the coast would be clear; her eyes becoming catlike slits.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to set off the alarm. From what Jen said, they don't seem to be very experienced in fighting together, much less the Kraang." Nightwatcher defended good-naturedly.

Their leader wasn't too happy about her friend being in the clutches of the Kraang, or being absent from bashing them, and Danny knew that and felt bad for her. Akira gave a curt nod. It did make good sense.

"True, but either way, I think it's time to stop hiding and do some late night cleaning." The brunette stated in her usual stoic way; though Danny couldn't help catching the familiar hint of mischief and glint of something silvery, like the thread of a spiders web, glimmer for a second passed Livewire's face.

"Nightwatcher, would you do the honor?" At this, Danny couldn't help but perk right up from his somewhat bored mood. "Oh, it would be my pleasure." He replied while fetching a handful of ball bearings from one inside jacket pockets of his suit.

As the next wave of robots came running toward them, he popped out around the corner on one knee and sent the spheres rolling towards them. Some of the Kraang slipped and fell on them as the others tried to stop, but it was too late.

As soon as the first Kraangs foot hit the silvery sphere, the bearings began exploding! Robot bits went flying thanks to Jen's patented "Roller Bombs", and then Savage was next up to play.

She came charging out like a wild beast towards the panicking aliens, and began tearing them apart with either her bear hands or with the use of her tekko-kagi: a pair of sturdy gloves with three long claws on each.

With the way the orangette sliced through and cut down both alien and droid that got in her way like a hellacious beast with her formidable strength, speed, and dexterity, it was easy to see how she earned the name Savage.

Surprisingly one of the easiest going people you could hang out with besides Danny. But when there was a reason for her to go wild, like if she needed some "anger management time" you'd best hope she was on your side…

As they destroyed each Kraang alien, the squealing copies violently burst into goo; making it look like someone was randomly vomiting up that bright pink Pepto-Bismol gunk.

Savage cleared the way, as the rest followed. Danny changed his weapons as he fought; switching between forming a bo staff out of light to put the smack down on their foes or morphing them into blades when he needed to go from smacking to slicing.

Akira was strolling coolly in-between them, with Kaia in front, and Dan covering the rear. But all three knew Livewire had them surrounded securely with an unseen web of her koto strings. Only they'd trained with her long enough to notice the faintest of glints and sparks every now and then.

They had been hoping to get further into the base and see whether or not there was anyone to rescue besides Jen; who was apparently getting help from the turtles, so they could do it more safely BEFORE they went and slaughtered every irksome pink copy in the place.

But, one had to be able to adapt when things didn't go according to plan. And that was something Akira and her team were surprisingly good at. So while the turtles were busy trying to save Jen, April O'Neil and her father Kirby, the three Guardians in training kept themselves occupied with disposing of every pink creep in the base.

Akira set charges around the base as they went; set to go off when she chose to detonate them with an app on her phone. A rumble from above shook the base and caused the curious three to wonder what the heck those turtles were doing.

"Hope they're having fun." Akira said derisively as she made bite size Kraang chunks with her remarkably sharp wires. "Not as much fun as me!" Savage laughed as she ripped a bot in two, and then chased down the squealing pink prize inside to toss it in the air at Nightwatcher; who used it for bating practice with his staff and hit it back to Savage, who sliced it into several pieces with her blades.

"And he's outta there!" Danny comically cried triumphantly as he hit it back, before turning back to deflecting shots and beating bots; using the same baseball technique with the orbs of white light energy he generated in his hands.

By the time they got Jen's message saying she and the others had left the base, and had fought enough of them for Akira to have planted plenty of explosives in the absence of their boom happy friend Jen, Nightwatcher photoported them the heck out of there in time to hear the Kraang prattling on about destroying the turtles.

None of them liked hearing that, however, the first to act had been Danny. He popped up right behind the one in the middle who had been doing the talking and knocked that creeps robotic head right off of his body; sending it flying clear across the other side of the wall.

"Nice one!" Savage cheered while gutting one of the pink puke balls. As the Kraang turned around and held up their weapons to fire, a glimmer flickered by and their weapons fell to the ground in several very useless pieces thanks to Livewire.

The robots exchanged looks as one said "This is what is known as an uh oh." as they saw the claw wielding kunoichi approaching them; her fist smacking against the open palm of her hand.

"That's right kiddies. Time for your prize!" Savage jeered giddily as she made quick work of smashing and trashing them, while Nightwatcher made sure none of them got away.

As they played, Akira went to investigate the area to try and see what the turtles had been up to. Had they gotten there a few moments earlier, they might've seen the mutated human now known as Snakeweed creeping off into the darkness.

"Right, well, you guys know what to do." Akira stated to her team before texting Jen to find out where the heck she was. Jen was all done and could come back if they wanted her to.

Aki said to get her butt down there, and it wasn't long before said redhead showed up. While she waited, Aki contacted their sensei to report their mission status as per usual. If Haruhi or Karina weren't there or was busy with their own work, they typically spoke to an Utrom like Othar, who was in charge of that department.

After the few seconds it took for Jen to form her bow and quiver of arrows; which were stored within the suit, they went through the base to make sure all the Kraang, that the turtles hadn't let escape, were disposed of.

And while Savage and Nightwatcher had the pleasure of doing that, Livewire guarded Trickshot while she gathered up any data from their somewhat damaged systems that might be useful.

It would be handed over to their Utrom and Guardian bosses to look over, as usual. But for teenagers who were mutants and ended up attending an Utrom school, they did pretty good following protocol.

Even if Jenny usually made a copy to look through herself. One never knew when the higher ups would leave their soldiers out in the dark about certain things, so she and her team of quirky ninjas usually made copies of whatever data they scavenged just to make sure.

Once they were done, it was definitely pretty late. They changed back into their civilian clothes and headed for home. Akira lived in the building across from Jenny's, as they had been friends almost since the Murakami family moved to America, so they left together, while Dan and Kai left to go their own way.

Kai asked Danny if he wanted to crash over since hers place was closer and her dad shouldn't be stopping by to visit any time soon. The ash-brunet tiredly and happily agreed; since he got along with Kai's little bro Martin anyways.

"Need to crash at my place, Aki-kun?" Jen asked; using the playfully teasing nickname she usually used when it was just the two of them. They had long since grabbed their backpacks, and since they were back in their regular outfits, she could see the half glare her best friend shot her way.

"No, I'll be fine. My family's used to our weird lifestyle." Akira said as they came closer to their apartments. "You're the one who should be coming over, since your dad and brother don't know." Aki countered; figuring the other wouldn't want to risk waking up her own family.

"Nah, can't. My bro will flip out if I try to spend the night. He already gets on my case for staying out so late all the time." Jenny sighed in exasperation. "Must be why he's called Casey, eh Pettanko (flat-chested)?" Aki played; smirking some when the other stuck her tongue out at the brunette.

Since they'd been friends since childhood, they were the best of friends, and had their own comical way of teasing one another that was just something funny they'd done since they were kids, while the other pretended to be annoyed.

Jenny landed on top of the roof to her home and stretched tiredly. "Damn I'm beat…" She yawned; wanting nothing more than to sleep for a week. "Yeah right… you'll be up all night fiddling with something." Aki said with a roll of her eyes; though she was clearly amused.

"Meh, true. So, how 'bout breakfast this weekend? I'll make wa-aaaaaaaaaaaffles!" The redhead said in a tempting singsong fashion that made her stoic friend give a snort of laughter.

"You keep eating like that and you'll get fat." Jenny mock gaped and then gasped in an overdramatic way. "Pfft! Screw you! I'll give 'em to Danny if you're gonna be such a skinny beeotch about it." The fact that Jen's outward appearance made her seem like someone who didn't talk like that made it all the funnier.

By this point, the brunette was having a hard time not laughing at her goofy, spirited friend. "Fine, fine." Aki gave an airy wave of her hand like she was swatting away an insect. "If it'll shut you up, I'll come over and partake in your baka waffles."

"Knew you loved me!" Jenny joked as she gave a harmlessly flirty wink and stuck her tongue out as she hopped down to her fire escape. Jen could hear her friend laughing her butt off as she climbed into her room through the window.

Jen and her friends behaved weirdly, she knew, but she seriously didn't give a damn. They were humans who were also mutants due to lord knows how many thousands of years of Kraangs pissing in the gene pool.

But even before she knew that, she didn't give a rats ass what anyone thought. It was just part of her charm she supposed humorously as she set down her book bag on the floor beside the small work desk in her room. She'd have to remember to give Danny what she found while scavenging tomorrow.

Although she was physically beat, Jenny's mind was reeling with things to do, so she pulled out a mishmash looking laptop she'd pimped out with stuff she scavenged from junkyards, and started working on designs for things she wanted to make once she had what she needed, while listening to music on it.

She didn't end up getting any sleep until things got blurry and she figured it was time to turn in for the night, or morning, whatever. Jenny was the smart one of the group; although they were all intelligent in their own ways, she was more the tech gal and dealt in handling all that job entailed.

Which was sometimes a lot more than one might think. Though she would try to show the others a few things in case something happened and she couldn't help out on a mission. Thankfully Aki was pretty good at listening.

Danny mostly paid attention if it was something he thought was interesting or reminded him of something from a comic or anime. Kaia pretended not to listen just to mess with her, but the orangette didn't want to accidentally blow her hand off or something, and paid attention.

The redhead finished getting ready for bed in the bathroom down the hall, and then yawned and snuggled up under the covers. She couldn't help thinking over all the crazy stuff that had happened that night, like meeting four mutant ninja turtles.

They seemed like they were a pretty cool bunch. And she hoped to get to know them better, and also to figure out the mystery of where and why they had taken April's dad. Were they just after him?

Or was there more to it than that? As the kunoichi closed her eyes and started drifting off, she couldn't help smiling some at the feeling that life was about to get a whole lot more interesting…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**I love multi-pairings! X3 Like in any cartoon, show, movie, manga, comic, etc. you get a variety of pairings, jokes, and situations at ones disposal. So much fun! **

**Until next chapter, tootles!**


	5. My Brother's Keeper

**Disclaimer: Ch 1. **

**Author's Note(s): Just a little in-between chapter to show how Jenny and Casey interact some. I'll have little scenes like this for other of my OC's and the characters to add some more original content between the episodes because I like to. X3 **

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"My Brother's Keeper"<strong>

Jenny was rudely awakened about three or four hours after she'd fallen asleep to the sound of her door slamming open. "THERE YOU ARE!" Exclaimed the none too happy voice of her big brother Casey Jones. And a little too loudly at that.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Casey continued as he stormed in; his arms flailing and a displeased look on his face. "And a good morning to you too, dear sibling." Jenny groaned as she tried to cover her ears to block out the yelling.

Casey kicked at the bed to jar the other some; feeling really annoyed at how his twin sister was always home so late. He was starting to worry the other was in some kind of gang or something. "Don't you "dear sibling" me! Answer the question! And I don't wanna hear any of this "study group went later than I thought" BS again. Okay?"

Jenny heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright, fine. We had the study group at Danny's and ended up playing video games. Happy?" She stated flatly; seriously not in the mood to be dealing with her brothers issues of over protectiveness and abandonment. She had plenty of her own to bug her.

"Damn it Jenny!" Casey practically screeched, much to the redheads chagrin, as she flinched at the sound while her brother picked up a book and threw it at the wall. "Casey, come here." Jenny sighed as she sat up and patted the spot on the bed beside her.

"No! I'm pissed!" He huffed angrily; crossing his arms like a stubborn child. The younger Jones tried not to roll her eyes at the older twins childish behavior. "Come on Bro. I can't talk to you when you're like this. Peace hug?" She reasoned tiredly with open arms; getting the familiar feeling he wasn't really upset with her, but something else.

Hearing the exhaustion in the others voice made him pause and consider. With another showy huff, and a heck of a pout, he heaved a "Fine!" and plopped down unceremoniously beside his sister.

Jenny shook her head and pulled her brother over to hug him; resting his head against her chest so Casey was mostly lying down now. "There, isn't that better?" Jen asked in a nice, gentle tone.

Being quite used to being the one who had to be all Zen and sensible, and crap like that when Casey was raging. Sure, there were times when she could be just as much a little rage monster as he could be when something really bothered her. But her anger was more a deep one, whereas Casey's was more the opposite.

She felt her brother shift and get comfortable as he still had his arms folded over his own chest defiantly; which only served to amuse the nerdy girl. "Meh, I guess…" Casey muttered grumpily.

The secret ninja wrapped her arms around her big brother and hugged him like they'd always done since they were little and the other was bothered by something. Jenny most often did it to the other since the ravenet could have quite the temper, and the redette had always done her best to take it upon herself to be the levelheaded one and calm her big brother down.

"Now I know my late night study sessions bother you." Jenny began, as she reached up a hand to stroke the others hair. Her brother gave an unhappy "Hm" in response. "And so can my scavenging. But we both know I'm doing my school work, and that I'm not out doing anything bad like drugs or something." She continued to reason in that soothing tone of hers.

"Hm, yeah… I'd so know if you were. Heh, you're a terrible liar." Casey reasoned; tilting his head back to give the other that goofy, gap toothed grin. Jen smiled warmly and gave the other a little pat on the head. "Yep. Can't fool you, big brother." She told him sweetly; which always helped make Casey feel all proud and happy.

In truth, she wasn't exactly lying to Casey, because she was going to the Utrom school to be a Guardian. And their version of "studying" was what she'd been doing last night. And her study group was her team. The activities might've been different than what most would've expected, but the results were essentially the same.

She still felt bad about not being able to tell Casey everything though. Especially knowing how much her bro loved the thought of being a hero like in the comics and kicking bad guy butt. But Jen didn't want him getting hurt or anything. She didn't know what she'd do if something bad ever happened to the lug head…

"So what's really bothering you?" Jenny asked; knowing her brother hardly ever blew up like that unless something had upset him. This time, it was Casey's turn to sigh. And it was a rather depressed one as she felt the tall boys body tense.

"It's just… I came home from the rink… and _no one _was here." The usually confident and happy voice of her brother sounded so sad and broken; so very unlike him. But Jenny knew what was bothering him now…

"Oh Casey… I'm sorry." The redhead apologized most sincerely as she held the other tighter to try and make him feel better. See, their parents started arguing a lot when she and Casey were really little.

And it only seemed to get worse as time went on. Until one day, she and Casey came home from school, and they found their mother wasn't there. She was a stay at home mom while their dad worked, so she was always there when they came back.

It was kind of weird, but Casey said maybe she'd gone out to run an errand or something. Their parents had had a really bad argument as she and Casey had been leaving for school that morning.

So when their mother didn't show up at all that day, and their dad didn't seem very interested in where she was, the two Jones siblings began to worry. A day became a week, and then months.

And after continuous asking, did their father finally break down and tell them she'd left. The news that your own mother had abandoned you, and to go be with some other guy you didn't even know, was pretty damaging to any child.

Particularly Casey Jones, since under his whole tough guy act, he was more fragile then he let on. After that, Casey clung to his little sister a lot more; for fear he might end up all alone and that no one would want to love a moron like him.

But Jenny knew her brother wasn't stupid. Goofy yeah, but he was smarter than he even he probably knew. And very good at sports. Jen could tell they were related since they were a lot more alike than Casey gave himself credit for.

The whole trauma dealt to them both by the hands of their parents was just damaging to each in their own way. But as she didn't want her brother freaking out and getting upset, Jenny did her best to abstain from dating.

There was one very sweet guy she had developed a bit of a crush on once, and had wanted to at least try dating him. But it was short-lived, as they decided that all things considering with how she didn't want to abandon her brother or even for him to think that she had, and a few other factors that drew them apart; Jen told the guy it was better if they remained friends.

Since it fell under things that had happened during her training, she couldn't tell Casey. But in some ways, she thought it was best she didn't anyway. Her brother, like any good sibling, detested the idea of his little sister dating anyone.

"Why did she leave us, Jen? I still… I just don't get it." The depressed ravenet asked in a voice barely above a whisper. "Was it something I did?" At this, she could see his golden brown eyes were all glassy as they stared up at her; as if an answer could fix everything.

Her eyes closed almost halfway as she ran her fingers through his hair to try and soothe away the pain they both shared on the matter. "Shhhh… none of that now." She leaned her head down and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

"You know it wasn't your fault." She heard him give a small sniff as he stared off at nothing. "Then why…? How could someone do something like that? Didn't she love us?" Casey hated getting upset like this, but as hard as he tried to be the strong big brother she could be proud to look up to, he was only human…

She thought for a moment, but nothing really came to mind. Jen had no idea why their mother had left. Their dad seemed pretty clueless despite all the fighting they had done. Either that or he just couldn't bear admitting the truth.

"You know big brother… Sometimes, things are just out of our control." Jenny told him sincerely. It was a truth Master Haruhi once told her, and one that she'd learned over and over again in her time of discovering her powers and ending up a Guardian in training. She just hoped it would help.

They stayed like that for a while, as Casey closed his eyes and tried to calm down from having had a bad moment of nostalgia like he had. He was glad he had his little sister there. And she had made a good point…

Their dad worked a lot, so they were really the only two who were ever at home for each other. It was why Jenny always did her best to try and get home earlier from her work as a Guardian than the others. But sometimes, like the night before, she couldn't help being late.

Well, at least Kaia and Aki understood Jenny's situation; since she had her nerdy little brother Martin to look after and Aki who had an overprotective sister of her own. After a few minutes, the rosy haired girl glanced over at the digital clock on her bedside table and saw what time it was.

"You want some breakfast?" Jen asked sweetly. Casey frowned a little in thought before he looked up at the other with the expression of a kicked puppy. "Can you make waffles?" The younger Jones smiled and nodded. All those years of making waffles for him and learning a few things from Akira's family had thankfully improved her cooking skills.

"Well… okay then." The ravenet said as he slowly got up; feeling a lot better after Jenny soothed away his angry panic attack before it got bad. She followed the other up before grabbing Casey from behind and giving him a big hug.

"Everything's gonna be okay big brother." Casey chuckled lightly; wondering how he always ended up feeling more like the younger sibling than the older one in times like these. He turned around in the others hold and gave her a pat on the head. "Yeah… I know, Sis."

"Now come on, I'm hungry!" The hockey fanatic said in his usual cheery mood as he hurried off to the kitchen; wanting to put the crappy mood behind them. Jenny shook her head and laughed quietly and then headed out to make breakfast before they went to school.

She'd kick Casey's burr later for having thrown that book. It didn't matter which book it was either. It was just a reason to roughhouse with the wily asshat she had for a sibling and have some fun.

And as they were eating waffles and Casey stole one right off of Jenny's plate, she shot her brother a pouty glare; pretending to be angry, and thought to herself mischievously _'Yeah… I'ma definitely kick his ass later…' _

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**I wouldn't mind some honest feedback on how ya'll are enjoying it so far. Just try to be nice/polite when you do review. Review it or put it in a PM if you like. Just reviewing to be rude is rather pointless and I've posted my opinion about that in the first chapter I think. LoL **

**Until next chapter, tootles! :3**


	6. OutRAGEous Behavior

**Disclaimer: Ch 1.**

**Author's Note(s): This chapter takes place BEFORE the episode "Turtle Temper". Just so everyone is clear on that. LoL I know some may just want me to get right into the episodes, but I happen to like certain little things called story development and character development. X3 And original content to the overall story. So yay!**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training"<strong>

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><p><strong>"OutRAGEous Behavior"<strong>

Jen and her brother attended Roosevelt High School together with Akira. Danny and Malakaia had long since graduated and had gone to different schools anyway. So it's not like that mattered anyway.

But after school, they met up for training at the Utrom facility, under the guise of having formed their own little study group to work on whatever school work she and Aki had, as well as the art class Danny took.

However, it was mostly made known to whomever asked that when they weren't studying, they were just hanging out as friends and fanning over stories and mangas full of slash/yaoi ; which Casey didn't want any part of it.

The facility the Utroms used to train their Guardians existed within its own space between their dimension and Earths. And the uniforms for their "school" was the ninja garb that they wore.

The school itself was filtered so that the humans could breath, as the Utroms had use of their exo-suits and such to better breath as well. As it existed where it did, the time differential was different from that of Earths.

So whenever Jenny and her team went there to train after school, they could train their for hours but only be gone a few minutes. They also didn't train every day, as that would draw suspicion.

Even so, they were given ample time to do what they needed to. Their sensei, Master Haruhi had taken them on simple missions (or at least ones that seemed simple at the time) on Earth, as well as on other worlds where the Kraang caused trouble.

Which meant Jenny had seen quite a bit in the few years she had been a Guardian in training. Speaking of which, the redhead and her team were currently at the Utrom school.

They were giving Haruhi-sensei their report of last nights unexpected mission. After discovering the existence of the four turtles, Jen and her teammates chose to try and keep their existence a secret from the Utroms; as the turtles, in Jen's opinion, were good.

Akira did tell their sensei though since Haruhi was her cousin, and she didn't like keeping secrets from him. They were okay with that, and so during their report, they informed him about them.

Haruhi-sensei had been pretty awesome about it though; but he was a surprisingly calm and reasonable soul. He told them that, so long as the turtles didn't pose a threat or a hindrance, that the Utroms didn't need to be bothered about their existence.

Their teacher stopped to stand in front of Jen to speak to her. "Impressive work last night, Jennifer. You've proven yourself quite resilient; even under such dangerous circumstances. Not many kunoichi your age have been able to hold up so long in the clutches of our enemy and lived to tell about it. However…"

He trailed off for a moment as his expression became somewhat stern. "You were captured nonetheless, put yourself in harms way without the protection of your powers or even the basic protection of your uniform, and nearly risked exposing your identity as a Guardian to the girl, her father, and these… turtles. Pray tell child, what possessed you to undertake such a risk?" He asked with a cool, curious tone.

Jenny had been sitting on her knees in line with her teammates with her head bowed respectfully, when she looked up to address her sensei. "If I hadn't, those two civilians could've been possibly killed or worse, Sensei. I just… I just couldn't stand idly by and let that happen." He noticed how the hands on her knees clenched into fists.

"But then you were captured." Haruhi countered firmly as he stood there in the Guardian uniform; minus the mask, hood and goggles. "Yeah, I didn't mean for that to happen. But after it did, I figured maybe I could at least figure out why the Kraang were after them."

"And how did that fair for you?" Jenny lowered her gaze; trying to keep a straight face, but the keen eyes of her sensei saw and sensed the regret for not being able to save the April girls father. "Not as well as I had hoped, Sensei…"

For a long moment, the dark haired teacher regarded his student; she was such a brave soul, but she could be rather brash at times. Even so, she was smart enough to figure things out a she went most of the time. "I suppose it wasn't all for naught though, was it?" He stated in a kinder tone. Jenny peered up at him slightly bemused.

"You were able to lead your team to the Kraang base, destroy the mutagen and droids they had there, retrieve their data, and get the girl to safety. Like you said; there's no telling what they might have done to her. With the way they've been kidnapping scientists, her father could still be alive. So perhaps the risks you took were worth it. Wouldn't you say?"

"I, erm… H-hai Sensei!" The young Jones agreed a tad taken aback. She had been rather worried her actions might've gotten her in trouble… again. Haruhi was a surprisingly understanding mentor, but he could be strict at times, as he did not wish harm to befall his students.

"I know you wish to remain on friendly terms with the April girl and the turtles. But just make sure you do not reveal your secret, youngling. A dear friend once said to me that 'a ninjas most powerful weapon is the shadows.' Being brought out into the light is a _dangerous_ thing." Haruhi told her; his soft tone holding concern and warning, as he smiled gently.

"Hai Sensei. I understand." The redhead said seriously with a nod. Her teammates followed suit, and after that was done with, they trained and were allowed to leave to do as they pleased, as they did not have patrol duty that evening.

Jenny left to go join Casey at the ice rink, and she helped him practice with the condition he study for that project of his afterwards. She may not have been into hockey as much as her twin, but that didn't mean the redhead wasn't the athletic type.

She'd been playing sports with Casey since they were kids, as they had always enjoyed doing stuff together. While the ravenet may not have been smart like his sister, he did try to help when he could; like going with her to junkyards to scavenge for parts and other stuff for her inventions or experiments.

After that, they went home and made dinner together. Nothing fancy; just some spaghetti and garlic bread. Then they hung out watching TV, before they did their homework together.

Casey was glad Jenny was there to help him when he needed it. And also to fix the stuff that got busted. Their dad didn't make much money, so they learned to appreciate what they had and to try and make it last as long as they could. But they didn't care.

They were happy just to have each other. And though she had made a new friend in April, their schedules kind of conflicted and they mainly communicated via texts or phone calls.

Like the turtles, Jenny tried to keep her friendship with April a secret. She didn't want her brother to end up meeting someone who may or may not end up getting popped off by the Kraang or kidnapped again.

Casey knew her best friend Aki, and he met Kaia and Danny a few times. But he disliked any guy hanging around his little sister. It wasn't until Jen told him that Danny preferred guys that he kind of let up.

Although he became more concerned Danny might try to hit on him after that. "Well you can't really blame me, can ya Sis? I mean, just look at me." Casey stated smugly as he gestured to himself like he was Mr. Sexy or something. Jenny just rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh at her comically, yet slightly egotistical brother.

Out of all the turtles that she had gotten to spend time with so far, Jenny felt she got along best with Raphael. He was like a short, mutant turtle ninja version of her brother Casey, and it was rather cool she had to admit.

She figured since Donatello was the geek of the brothers, that they might've gotten along best. But for some reason the purple banded ninja didn't seem too fond of her, and went out of his way to avoid her if at all possible.

Jen figured he must have his reasons, and didn't bother trying to push the issue. If Donatello wanted to act like a snobby jerk and ignore her or turn up his nose at her (or whatever they called their nose) like he did, then he could go suck a rotten egg as far as the redhead was concerned.

So instead of getting mad about it, as that was a waste of time and energy she could be focusing on her own lab work, she let it roll off of her like water off a duck and ignored him right back, while trying to remain civil since she didn't want to end up upsetting his brothers.

But back on topic… Ahem! Raph could be a real hothead like Casey too, and tended to vent about whatever when they hung out. The red banded ninja liked having someone besides Spike that he could talk to though since Jen could actually talk back.

It had admittedly taken him about a week or so of randomly hanging out with the redhead before he really started to come out of his shell. Not literally though; cuz that might've been weird.

Jenny could tell he had a lot of anger though. And unlike her brother Casey who had hockey, there wasn't much of a way for Raph to properly manage his rage. She couldn't help worrying some that he might end up doing something stupid that he'd regret because of his behavior.

He seemed to be a bit more agitated than usual lately since they hadn't had any luck finding April's dad. She found Raph was a softie under that shell of his, even if he didn't like anyone to know.

She could see it like the red mask on his face. It seemed that Donnie wasn't really helping any and had been making things worse because of his almost nagging insistence that they promised they wouldn't rest until April's dad was found.

Apparently the brainy turtle took the "not resting" bit a lot more literally than his three brothers. The lack of rest and fact that Donnie kept tinkering around in his lab with things that kept blowing up or making too much noise for him to get any sleep didn't help much either.

Thankfully it did help some when Leo managed to convince the almost frantic Don that they needed to sleep to actually be of any help to April. But mostly so Raph wouldn't chase Donnie around with a wrench again.

The only peace and quiet Raph got was when he was out of the lair to rant and rave about it all to Jenny. They usually traveled around some on the rooftops because the red turtle liked to move about when he was telling her about his troubles.

Eventually he would settle down, and after a few words of reason from his redheaded friend, the angry turtle would end up dozing off and manage to catch some well-deserved Z's. Jen would keep watch over him and wake him when it was time for her to get going.

Not that he needed her to do that for him… But he couldn't help feeling safe with her there to make sure no one bothered him. It was a good time for her to work on her homework or doodle some geeky stuff in her notebook anyway.

The red banded turtle got that sisterly vibe from her, and as glad to be able to hang with someone who didn't fuss at him for being himself or for getting upset about things. April was nice, but he wasn't as comfortable around her as he was with Jenny.

But one evening, Raphael had been waiting for Jen to show up, feeling a bit more ticked than usual. He had just been about to kick back and read one of his comics, when there was an explosion in Donnie's lab.

Which would've been only mildly aggravating, had it not been for the fact that some flaming part whizzed out of the lab and shot right through his comic; the flames quickly consuming the rest of it and turning the paper to ash in his hands.

And it was just at the part where things were getting good too! Leo and Mikey had to hold him back from beating Donnie with his own bo staff; and were barely able to. Thankfully Master Splinter stepped in and tried to help.

Since his sensei was there, he couldn't very well cause the tall nerd the grievous bodily harm he'd been intending to, but he didn't want to stick around for another one of Master Splinter's lectures either.

So he got the heck out of there and went to wait in the usual spot for Jenny to show up; having arrived over a good hour than he was supposed to. Raph tried to get some practice in while he waited, but between everything that happened and the waiting, he only grew more upset by the minute.

He went to go venture around until it was time to meet up with her; not being able to keep still he was so ticked. Raph didn't get too far though, when he caught sight of some dumb street punks hassling a woman by trying to steal her purse.

Un-holstering his sais and giving them a little twirl, he couldn't help grinning darkly at finding an outlet for his current rage. He leapt down and stealthily approached the goons, before beginning what he had hoped would be some fruitful venting.

Meanwhile, Jenny had been hanging out at Danny's place with him, Kaia and her little brother Martin. They were playing Mazes and Mutants; a favorite of Martin's. Her character of course was some archer type of elf, but she didn't mind.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was almost time to meet up with Raph, and figured she better head out. No telling what he might get into if she kept him waiting. But Kaia noticed how the redhead had taken to leaving earlier than she normally would, with the only excuse that she was going to meet one of her new friends.

Kaia knew these "new friends" were the ginger and the four turtles, but seeing as she hadn't officially met them like Jen had, the orangette was a bit wary of them. Mostly because she was curious as to just who her friend was getting involved with.

When Jen excused herself to leave, Kaia went after her. Marty was going to spend the night at Danny's anyways since their dad was in no mood to be around, so she gave the excuse she wanted to go out for a bit and to continue their game without her.

When they were outside, the older girl explained she wanted to sneak a peek at whichever turtle Jen was going to meet up with so that she might get a better idea of what type of people they were.

"I don't think they'd be happy if you knew about them." Jen said with a disapproving frown. "Yeah, but I don't have to meet them. I just wanna see who it is you've been hanging out with so much. What if they turn out to be evil and working for the Kraang and you get kidnapped? I'll never hear the end of it from Aki and Danny if I don't at least check them out for myself." The orangette explained simply.

Hmm, Jen had to admit Kaia did have a bit of a point, even if the redhead knew the other was mostly doing it because she cared more than she let on. Still, she should at least let her friend see for herself that the turtles were good guys. Who knew? Kaia may even want to be friends with them too.

Then they could all-wait… What the heck? Jen looked around to see where the orangette went and saw her dashing off in some random direction. She quickly followed and saw that it wasn't random at all.

Malakaia's acute hearing picked up the noise of what sounded like people getting the crap beaten out of them and crying out for help, and took off to see what it was all about. Topaz eyes widened and then narrowed into slits when she saw it was one of the turtles beating up on some less than savory looking teens.

"Oh crap!" Jen breathed quietly; wondering what the heck Raph was doing. "He's gonna kill them if he keeps it up." Kaia growled faintly; her eyes almost seeming to glow in the shadows they hid in.

"You take the goons. I've got the turtle." The orangette told her as she pulled up the fake fur trimmed hood of her jacket, before taking off toward them like a lioness. "Damn it, Kai!" Jen huffed; pulling up her own hood, before grabbing a trash can lid and hurrying off to knock out the humans before they could be seen.

Raph didn't know what was happening when he felt someone pull him off of the one goon he had pinned down to the ground, and then ended up flying through the air at a wall.

He'd accidentally gotten caught up in the scuffle and his anger, and sort of blanked after he'd started whooping up the thugs when they started insulting him. Raph _really_ hated it when people insulted him…

The red banded turtle got to his feet and glared at the furry hooded creep who threw him. Okay… NOW he was ticked! But he hadn't taken three steps forward before the hooded figure sprang forward and kicked him square in the gut.

Raph's eyes bugged out as the air was whisked from his lungs. He wobbled and almost fell to his knees as he clutched at his abdomen, while Kaia stood there poised and waiting for him to make another move.

She didn't want to fight him, just make him stop. But that didn't mean she wasn't prepared to defend herself. The orangette was used to dealing with her dad when he came home drunk and pissed off about something and the dangers that came with their "family business".

The turtle shot her a fiery glare; his eyes becoming raging little flames as he gave a roar and came at her again. Lunging at her with his sais, but being quite taken aback when she leaned back so far it looked like she was about to do a back flip.

Kaia successfully dodged the attack, but in the process, her hood fell off, so she only felt bemused when the fuming turtle paused mid-counterattack to stare at her with eyes that got bigger by the second.

For Raph, it kind of seemed to happen in slow motion. When the girl came back up and spun on her heel to face him, and he did the same, he had been about to attack when what popped up hadn't been some thug or hooded dude… but a girl!

Golden orange pigtails seemed to dance about her face as they fell into place while she moved. Her eyes opening up in bright orbs that looked like tiny suns and seemed to smolder just as radiantly with a calm, warriors spirit he couldn't help but feeling rather envious of.

He stood there frozen; not sure what to do as his mind went blank, save for wondering how the heck someone could look _so hot_. Watching as the turtle lowered his weapons and started staring at her weirdly made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Uh… Jen? I think I broke him." Kaia whispered loudly over to her friend; holding up her hand so he wouldn't hear. Jenny, who had just finished stuffing the now unconscious idiots into a dumpster and using a pipe as a makeshift lock, glanced over curiously to find the red banded turtle goofily gazing at her friend.

The redhead snickered a little and pulled her own hood down, before going to stand beside Kaia and waving her hand at Raph. "Raph? Hello-oooooo? Earth to turtle!" She called to him, but when he just continued to ogle Kai, the orangette grew fed up with it, went right up to Raph, and smacked him upside the back of his head.

That sure as heck snapped him out of it. The turtle shook his head and then looked over to glare at whoever hit him, before his eyes bugged and a faint blush fell across his face.

"Y-you're a girl?!" He cried out in surprise before he could think better. "Yep." The orangette replied; arms crossed over her chest as she frowned ever so slightly. "But… but… YOU HIT ME!" Raph was quite flabbergasted by the fact that he was getting his butt handed to him by a girl.

"A lot. Yes." At this, she smirked and he couldn't help but notice the canines of her teeth looked a little pointier than they probably should've and wondered if maybe that was normal for some human girls.

At her response, he frowned. "But you're a girl!" Kaia's smirk widened toothily like she knew something he didn't. It was frustrating and kinda cool at the same time in his opinion since she looked kinda sexy like that; before inwardly hitting himself for thinking something so stupid. She did NOT look sexy, he tried to lie to himself.

"Thanks for noticing." Kaia replied cockily; feeling a little glad she hadn't broken the turtle after all, though finding him a tad slow. Maybe that was because he was a turtle? Hmm… she'd have to ask Jen later if she cared to remember.

"Yeah… But… You're a GIIIIIIIRRRRRRLLLL." Raph emphasized the word "girl" loudly and slowly like she wasn't getting it. The orangette's expression fell to one of annoyance at what he was getting at.

"Exactly. I'm the GIIIRRRLLL who stopped you're boneheaded self from accidentally killing those goons. You're welcome by the way." She countered somewhat mockingly; not very happy for how he was starting to sound like a chauvinistic jerk.

Raph's face got all red for an entirely different reason as he huffed and began regaining some of his usual composure. "What?! No way! I was doing just fine by myself before you showed up!" He argued feeling flustered. He… he hadn't almost done that, had he?

"Really? So I suppose you were just having a nice sundae with those fellas and that's really cherry syrup on your sais." The pumpkin haired girl challenged with a disapproving tone that kind of reminded him of Master Splinter.

He blinked and then scowled before turning his eyes upon his weapons and then being shocked. They did have some flecks of red on them and his hands. And there was no mistaking that it was blood either.

"H-how… Did I…?" He trailed off; wondering what the heck had happened. "Yeah, you did." Kaia told him a tad harshly; taking a step toward him. "And we stopped you from doing any more." His eyes peered up at her before going back to his weapons as if trying to remember what had happened.

"Maybe next time BEFORE you go out to biff some baddies, you'll stop and get a handle on that anger problem of yours, before you have any more _temper tantrums_." Malakaia was really rather irked at him, or really anyone who would just cut loose on people like that for a senseless and selfish reason.

Sure, some people deserved that kind of rage and some even deserved to die; that was just common sense they tried to beat out of kids with goody two shoes comic books. But those goons were just stupid street kids who didn't know any better and only deserved a minor butt kicking before getting left for the cops to deal with.

He hadn't meant to go that far. He was just trying to protect that lady and then she ran off screaming like she had, and the next thing he knew, those snot nosed brats were insulting him; calling him a freak and pretty much everything but a turtle. And Raph just lost it.

He bowed his head and his fits clenched around the handle of his weapons, as anger and shame at himself began to well up within him. "WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW?! YOU'RE JUST A STUPID GIRL!" Raph exploded with eyes shut tightly closed at the ground; his words aimed at the orange haired girl, before taking off like his shell was on fire.

"Raph! Wait up!" Jenny began to chase after him, but Kaia grabbed her arm. When the redhead turned to tell her to let go, Jen was surprised to see her friend looking rather understanding and solemn. "Let him go." Jen hesitated for a moment as she looked back to where the turtle had run off to and then back to her friend to give a small nod.

"C'mon… I'll walk you home." Kaia offered in much the same tone that left no room for argument as she turned to leave. Jen followed silently and couldn't help thinking that it was times like these when she remembered Kaia was the eldest of the group.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Jen peered over at her friend who only looked straight ahead with hands in her pockets. "Meh, I dunno about 'okay'… He'll either learn from it or go into denial and have to learn the hard way he has a problem."

The redhead gave a nod; knowing the other spoke from experience on the matter. Jen could tell the others insult about her being a stupid girl bothered Kaia some, but her and her teammates were used to being underestimated and made fun of for being who and what they were, so she knew she'd get over it.

They stopped off at Mr. Murakami's to grab some dinner together and some to go for their siblings. Getting to chat some with Akira when she went on her break about what had happened, before parting ways to go home.

Jen told Kaia she could take it from there and that if she didn't go back to Danny's the food might get cold. The sunny haired girl gave a nod and thanked her; seeming to feel better than she had before after their conversation.

But while Jenny headed home and Kaia back to Danny's, the older girl couldn't help plotting to give that jerky turtle a good kick in the shell for calling her stupid the next time she saw him. And then smirked a little as she entered into the ash-brunets apartment with the food.

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

**Yeah, so maybe we authors don't NEED reviews. But they sure are nice and help us want to keep posting up chapters and stuff. LoL So they would be appreciated. Also, there's a lot more to Kaia than meets the eye and it'll be explained in the next chapter why she was able to best Raphael so easily. X3**

**Until next chapter... tootles!**


	7. A Tail of Two Assassins

**Disclaimer: Ch 1. **

**Author's Note(s): **Okay, so BEFORE anyone gets all huffy about it, I'd like to remind everyone this is AU and my fic. Everyone who re-writes a series like this does change stuff, so just keep that in mind. LoL As usual, please pardon the typos. ****

**The song is "Get Jinxed" from something called League of Legends. My friend HellKing666 got me hooked on it and we both thought it would make a fun addition to this chapter. Kuwahahahahah! Also, there is a pun in the title of this story, but I'm sure you'll get it once you read it. Lmfao! And if you haven't figured out who Malakaia's little brother is, this chapter might enlighten you. X3 So have fun and keep in mind that this is AU.**

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><p><strong><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>**

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><p><strong>"A Tail of Two Assassins"<strong>

Once Martin had gotten dinner and cleaned up for bed, the boy eagerly begged his big sister for one of her patented stories she made up about the brave "Sir Malachi"; a character based off of her own namesake who went about triumphing over evil, as he asked for a character that was cool like his big sister when she first started telling him bedtime stories.

He'd even taken it as his LARPing name; dressing up in a hooded cloak and acting out his Mazes and Mutants game with that wild imagination of his as a wizard. Kaia thought it was sweet, but couldn't help feeling like sometimes she didn't deserve his admiration.

When all was taken care of and Marty was fast asleep, she gave him a kiss on the forehead, and then went back home. She didn't like leaving Martin alone when she knew their dad would be there.

Mostly because of the self-centered mans drinking habit and unpredictable mood swings; which probably explained where her own mental instability came from. The fact that he didn't care for her baby brother, since the man didn't see how he could be of any use to him, was also a reason to keep Martin away from him. Kaia just barely made the cut in terms of usefulness.

The secret kunoichi however, couldn't really avoid going home, as it meant there was a reason he showed up. See, their family came from a long line of assassins, bounty hunters, and essentially warriors for hire; so normally he had other places to be could stay.

But when he showed up, it meant there was work to be done, as he was unfortunately her handler. It wasn't like she could exactly refuse since it was her main source of income, and also as it involved the family honor. Not that she thought their kind could even have such a thing, until she later became a Guardian in training and found that all killers had a way to do good.

Danny was sweet to convince her into working at the comic book shop, but honestly, it didn't pay enough to support herself and her little brother. But it was a nice gesture, and did help keep her out of trouble between jobs.

Kaia had home schooled herself, as her occupation didn't exactly allow for her to attend a regular school, since there was no telling how long a job could take or where it would take her.

Another reason why she was glad she could access the Utrom facility from more than one location since they could all link back from where their terminals were stashed. And also for Danny letting Marty spend the night every now and then when it wasn't safe for him to stay by himself if their dad was going to be around.

She hated the thought of something happening and her not being there to protect him. Kaia did her best to keep him from knowing what exactly it was that she did. The pumpkin haired sister told him it was apart of a part-time job she did for the company their dad worked for and he seemed to understand.

There were certain jobs she tried to refuse taking though. Mostly ones where innocent people could get hurt. If the job was to kill or bring in a mob boss or drug dealer who wasn't doing what he was supposed to or some scumbag like that, Kaia didn't really mind getting rid of them since they deserved what was coming to them.

Some of those jobs were even fun; to the point she could really sink her claws into them. She didn't condone killing innocent people, and for the most part wished she didn't have to when it was unavoidable.

However, work was work and taking care of her little brother Martin was her top priority; she'd slice and tear everyone asunder before she let her pride or morals get in the way of making sure Marty was okay. It wasn't like their lowlife father was going to do it. He was the reason her younger sibling only had one good leg…

But she didn't want to think about that right now. She needed her mind to be in the game, and to keep a level head rather than rip their dads off. Maybe she could take out some of her ill feelings and mental instability on whoever her target or targets would be for whatever job he was offering.

Being who and what she was, and living the life she had, it was astonishing the orangette didn't just snap and go all Johnny the Homicidal Maniac on the whole world sometimes. Not that there weren't times Kaia wasn't tempted to mind you…

But for her little bro, she wanted to be good. So she tried her best not to be like that and to not act like the psychotic monster around him that she had to be when working. Even if her best sometimes involved her trying to fight the urge not to strangle a target with his or her own intestines or skinning them alive with her claw-like blade.

Only to find it too tempting not to do so, and making up for it in her own mind by bringing him home a comic or toy on her way home from a job. But in her defense, they were usually either asking for it, or had it coming…

Markus Milton had never really thought much of his daughter since she was a girl, nor much of his son who was a pudgy little geek. But when he saw his daughter in action with her powers and just how savage she could be, the man knew he could use it to his advantage.

With Malakaia, his bloodline wouldn't be such a waste after all, and if he could train her to be a proper assassin like himself and their family before them, then there might be a chance for him yet to preserve the family business and their honor.

It wasn't long before he had her doing jobs with him. Sure, her newfound talents caused her to go a bit berserk at times, but to Markus, his daughters power was worth the bit of trouble they ran into along the way and the cost of her mental stability.

But the carnage they left in their wake eventually gained the attention of the Utroms. They sent out a few Guardians to hunt down and find this "Savage" character; as Markus had so come to name his daughter, and bring the vicious villain in to be analyzed and dealt with accordingly.

Imagine their surprise when they discovered it was just a young girl who had trouble controlling her own powers. Kaia had been so frightened of herself, what she was capable of and how she was beginning to like it then, that she used to hide herself away from her little brother Martin to keep from unintentionally hurting him.

Which for a while, made the boy think his big sister didn't like him any more and made the girl further hate herself. The hate made the unbridled rage she felt worse. It was like it fed some dark, terrifying beast inside of herself that would eventually consume her and take over.

The Utroms could sense this from her, and decided to give her a chance by letting the orangette train to control her inner monster as, while she was rather unhinged, Kaia had the desire and potential to be good.

That was when she met Master Haruhi, and he taught her the importance of how anger was nothing but a mindless animal that could destroy everything, if one did not learn to tame it.

Seeing as it was how she made a living, the Utroms couldn't say much about her line of work; seeing as they killed sentient beings like the Kraang and mutants that had once been human, so they really had no moral leg to stand on with that. That's what ninjas did; they killed and/or maimed people or stole things, and so on.

And so, as long as Kaia did not let her father manipulate her into causing the devastation that she once had as it could get them all in trouble, and she kept her powers and new life as a Guardian in training a secret, then they didn't really care.

She stopped going on jobs with her father, but that didn't stop him from popping up to try and persuade her otherwise. Every now and then he would approach her with a job for her alone to do, as he believed it was a contract worthy of her "talents".

After all, with his so-called "help", Savage had gained a reputation for being the most feared assassin in America. A feat not so easily earned, as it meant doing a lot of killing of others and other assassins in her own unspeakably twisted beastly way.

And to uphold the honor of the Milton family, Kaia had to maintain that title to an extent, as it would be just as dangerous to lose the title as it was to keep it. On that note, could remember one job that involved titles of being the "most feared" in particular that scored her a pretty interesting souvenir and her new favorite scarf; which she wore whenever the weather permitted or just because.

It was a while back when Kaia was still learning to tone down her "Savage-ness". Not that she'd really gotten much better, but she liked to think she had; definitely in terms of calming down and keeping a cool head. The young assassin could remember that crazy contract like it was yesterday…

_**~Flashback~ **_

The evening of that specific memory, she had still been rather new to being a Guardian in training, but had been an assassin and friends with her teammates long enough to get lots of extra cool tools to use on her "odd jobs"; or so was one of the things Danny tended to call what her and her family did.

Her father Markus had told her all about some yakuza boss who wanted a rival boss taken out because the punk was trying to move in on his turf like a dishonorable twit. She rolled her eyes inwardly as she listened.

It seemed pretty straight forward. Boss A wanted boss B dead because there were rumors that boss B was trying to overthrow his so-called partner (boss A), and apparently had hired some fancy assassin to kill boss A.

So boss A needed to get him before boss B's guy got him first. Yeah… pretty standard moron scumbag business as far as Kaia was concerned. But who was she to argue? It paid well and would allow her to take out at least a few lowlife creeps along the way.

Of course part of her commission would go to her dad, since he found her the job and all. It was easy money for him. He didn't have to do anything but be around to tell her about it and to collect. Then he'd be gone until he needed more cash because he couldn't do the job himself; which was more often than not since he wasn't as spry as he used to be.

Kaia accepted the job. Then went and packed a few things for her brother and whatever she would need for the trip to Japan that she'd be taking. The orangette sent an e-mail to Akira to tell her what was going on since the brunette was their leader.

Not because she wanted to really, but because it was a mandatory kind of thing for their occupation of secretly kicking Kraang butt. Then she called up Danny and told him what was up and that she was dropping off Martin with a few of his things, and he said that'd be fine and hoped she'd have a safe trip.

Danny was a real kindhearted guy and a great friend, the crazy orangette had to admit. She felt like a terrible person asking him to watch her brother like she did. But the last time she left him alone with their dad, he got a black eye and a busted lip and couldn't stop crying and asking "Why does daddy hate me so much?!" before she managed to calm him down.

Needless to say her and her dad got into a bit of a fight that night… Not something she wanted to repeat, since it ended in Markus threatening to out her identity and place a bounty on hers and her brothers head if she dared touch him again.

She knew he wouldn't do it though. Not if he wanted his precious "legacy" and "honor" to remain in tact. It would completely destroy all he'd worked for if she died for any reason.

And he couldn't have his main source of income getting bumped off. But it wasn't really something she wanted to test… If anything happened to her, she wouldn't be able to take care of Martin, and knowing her snake of a father could find a way to screw her over even if she killed him first made her hate him all the more.

Even during that hit job, Japan was a beautiful place, and one Kaia had been to before on other jobs. Thankfully she spoke Japanese and a few other languages pretty well; since it would look stupid if an assassin couldn't so she had been taught.

As it best hid her appearance, therefore protecting her identity, the orangette wore a similar outfit to the one she wore as a Guardian. Everything was the same, except for the hooded trench coat she wore.

It was fluffier to hide her girlish figure and make her gender harder to discern. And it was similar to her favorite jacket that had the fake fur around the trim, but this one had fluffy black fake fur around the trim of the hood and sleeve cuffs.

The fur was a few shades lighter than the coat itself and matched well. And she also had on her favorite extra soft light blue scarf on underneath of it; the tails of it hanging out of the front of her trench coat.

The symbiotic creature that formed her Guardian uniform could also form her assassins garb as well. It could form really any clothing she wanted or needed; which was why it was an important tool of the Utroms and their protectors.

She went and met with the yakuza boss that hired her; we'll call him Mr. A, and the man he wanted dead, Mr. B. because she never much cared to remember the names of the morons who paid her once the job was done.

It was easy for her to speak to others, as the mask of her outfit distorted her voice and those of all Guardians. It had it an eerie sort of polytone to it that made it impossible to discern who the person really was by scrambling their voice in varying pitches. Like wearing a voice changer on your face. With hers being programmed to sound more masculine when working.

So unless you actually knew the person well, it wasn't that easy to discern the speaker. Apparently, the reason Mr. A was so freaked out about the assassin sent to kill him, was because the guy was rumored to be the most feared of all the assassins in Japan; Tiger Claw.

And that the only way he could think to counter this and survive, was to hire the most feared assassin in America; Savage. It seemed her father had assured Mr. A that there was no one more capable of handling the guy than Savage.

Kaia had to pretend to be a guy, as apparently no one took much stock or confidence in a female assassin even in this day and age. So when spoken to or about, she was referred to as a "he". A fact which she hoped Jen and Aki would never know about; as she'd never hear the end of it, if they knew.

She'd heard a little about this Tiger Claw guy. Not much, but any assassin worth their salt tried to keep up with that sorta thing. Some people said he was a monster, and not just for what he did, but for how he looked.

So, first things first; protecting her paycheck. Shadowing the client was much easier to do with her ninja skills, she had to admit. But it was still pretty boring at times. Savage waited and watched, and then watched and waited a lot more.

It was at least almost three days before things picked up. On the night of the third day was when she noticed movement on the roof of Mr. A's mansion where he'd been staying in the country since the threat was made.

Her eyes were catlike slits so she could better see in the dark. She watched as a tall, feline-like figure moved around on the roof and made his way down onto the balcony to her clients room. She had to admit, by the way he moved, he obviously had some skill. But did he have enough…?

The long silence followed by a loud BOOM and a tiger-like roar answered that as a simple "nope!" in her mind. And that was her cue to swiftly scale from her hiding place in a tree outside of the mansion and quickly into the room to see what fun there was to be had with her supposed rival in badassery.

Being both titled "most feared" in whatever country sort of made them rivals. Even Tiger Claw had to admit that after this so-called Savage had proved his cleverness so far. The tiger mutant assumed his mark had been home and asleep in his bedroom.

And in all respect, it DID look as if the man was sleep in his bed. He'd watched it all play out; the man coming into the room, the light coming on, him getting ready for bed, getting into bed, falling asleep…

Only to discover upon getting close to the target that it had all been an elaborate hologram playing out like a movie. For upon getting right next to the bed to wake the victim and let him know why he was about to meet his demise by the blade of the mighty Tiger Claw, did he trip the trap that had been waiting for him and the hologram of Mr. A to flicker off.

There was an explosion that hurt his sensitive ears, and then something unpleasantly wet and slimy covered him; getting tangled in and pulling on his fur. He roared in aggravation as he tried to get it off. But it seemed like the more he fought the goop, the more tangled he became.

The strange almost robotic sound of someone impishly laughing in various tones made his ears twitch and for his golden catlike eyes to search out the source that seemed to echo around him in the darkness of the room.

"Heheheh! I taut I taw a puddy tat!" The disembodied voice mocked as his irritation grew; his head turning this way and that as the sound continued to move. "I DID! I did taw a puddy tat!" Savage teased as she moved around from one shadow to another; a totally faved way of hers of intimidating and freaking out the enemy.

The joke was on her feline foe, as she had her client hidden safely in some storage facility she'd picked that was off the radar. So the moron couldn't get into any trouble, as clients were known to be stupid and do stupid things, Kaia had tied and gagged Mr. A before stuffing him in a chained up locker that she thankfully (for him anyway) remembered to put air holes in.

"Grrh! SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!" He bellowed; losing his patience and winching slightly as his struggling made the goop pull and tug on his fur painfully. "Awww! Don't tell me the poor widdle Puddy Tat is all mad cuz he's stuck, hmm?" The voice practically sung it was so mocking.

He gave a low growl that he realized probably wasn't very threatening considering his current circumstance. Then, in the light of the moon that crept in through the windows of the balcony where he'd come in, a shadow fell and stood to form the silhouette of a rather small figure.

This taunting shadow of person must be the one known as Savage that he'd heard about; having done his own research on the other and been both impressed and somewhat disturbed by his rivals bloody reputation.

To his great surprise, the fiend actually began walking toward him! The figures hips swaying in an oddly feminine way that made him question the others gender; or at least his sexuality. As every source he searched swore that such a terrifying warrior must be a horrible monster of a man.

"Tsk, tsk, what a shame…" The black clad assassin tutted as she/he waved a finger like one would at a naughty child. "… for such a pretty kitty like you to be all covered in one of my Gobwebs like this." Savage teased in an oddly sweet way.

Even she had to admit he looked pretty cool once she'd gotten a better look at him. The Gobwebs were a creation of Jenny's though, but it's not like she was gonna go around telling everyone by outing the mad inventor and losing all the kooky creations she came up with in the Utroms lab. Better to just go with the flow.

His eyes narrowed as he bared his sharp teeth; leaning forward as far as he could. "Not much of a talker, huh? What's the matter?" She asked before side-stepping around quickly and taking a hold of his tail before pulling it with her so she was in front of him again and holding it up teasingly. "Savage got your tail?"

He tried lunging at her; gnashing those ferocious fangs at her as he growled and snarled. The mutant tiger was enraged at how this lunatic taunted and teased him so. It was not very warrior-like in his opinion.

"Hmm… It IS a nice tail though…" She mused honestly; holding it in one hand while the glove on her other hand melted away so she could run it slowly over the surprisingly soft fur.

The big bad tiger assassin involuntarily purred like a pleased kitten at the unwanted yet pleasant sensation; his eyes fluttering shut and his ears giving a little flickering twitch out of instinct. Both of them froze; Kaia taken aback by the reaction that had caused and Tiger Claw positively petrified his rival had drawn it out of him.

Which seemed even worse at how nice it had felt considering he still thought Savage was male. "Did you just… _purr_?" The shadowy figure standing before him asked; voice dripping with intrigued curiosity as that hooded head cocked slightly to the side.

"O-of course not!" He snarled abashedly; glad it was dark or the other might notice his face flushed with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Lying will get you nowhere with me, Puddy Tat." The other told him in a playfully chiding way, before giving the others tail another stroke that was firmer than the last.

The poor goo bound warrior couldn't fight the natural reaction the stimulation to his tail caused, as it was very sensitive, and he ended up purring again. A strangely unexpected sound snapped him out of the horrible bliss of the moment. Oh dear lord… did his enemy just… _giggle_ at him?!

This deranged diminutive degenerate was far eviler than he'd heard about. Tiger Claw knew of the unspeakably ghastly yet skillful butchery the other left in his wake, but he had no idea Savage delighted in humiliating his victims as well!

As sick as it was true, his rival was certainly worthy of the title he'd earned for himself. "You know… I WAS just gonna kill you, Cat Paw-" She began, but he growled out "It's Tiger Claw!" only for her to ignore him and keep talking as if she hadn't said a thing; which only infuriated him further.

"But you're kinda fun." She continued; repeatedly stroking his tail as she regarded him thoughtfully with her head tilting to the other side now. He bit his bottom lip until it began to bleed a little to try and suppress the urges to purr; some of the sounds slipping out through his teeth as his ears and left eye twitched like crazy.

"So-oooo! I think I'll leave you like this and go kill your boss! How'z 'bout dat, aye Puddy Tat?" Another dark, crazy little polytone giggle that almost sounded demonic with the way the tiger mutant was feeling.

But just as he was about to growl and lunge at her again out of frustration, he froze at the feeling of sharp, cool metal against his throat as she leaned in with a quickness that took even him by surprise while she held the tip of one of her claw-like tekko-kagi's against his throat.

"Now be a good kitty, and stay, or I'll have to take your tail for being naughty." Savage told him in a low, deadly sweet manner that sounded like something a mentally unstable romantic stalker might say to their duct taped victim they kept in the basement because that's how they showed they liked them. Though she wasn't entirely serious about taking his tail, since she had more fun with him attached to it than not. But he didn't need to know that.

He could feel her pressing the tip of the blade against his throat while giving his tail a firm squeeze to emphasis she meant every word. Tiger Claw snarled; his lip curling up over his fangs as his eyes narrowed at her.

But with the others face only the length of those deadly blades from his face, he could make out a pair of eyes with catlike slits similar to his own, that seemed to glow orange through the red lenses of the goggles the short assassin wore and make his own widen a fraction as he had not been expecting that.

The feline assassin sniffed as the delicate scent of vanilla and spices caught the attention of his enhanced sense of smell, and filled his nostrils with the attractive aroma. Strange… why would Savage smell so… _deliciously_? But before he could ponder this further, the other drew back just as suddenly as she'd appeared.

"Still… Kinda feels a bit… _unfair_, don'tcha think? So! Tell ya what I'm gonna do!" Savage declared with a showy clap of her hands before reaching into one of the inside pockets of her jacket and pulling out a small green pellet; holding it up for him to see in an almost taunting way.

"I'm going to leave this here for you. If you can figure out how to bust it open, it'll get the Gobwebs off you. Just, eh, don't get it in your mouth. That'll, heheh, defeat the purpose of my leaving you alive." The charismatic killer told him, before tossing it carefully so it landed about two inches in front of his face in the bright green goop.

"Why would you do this? You could kill me right now and be done with it?" Tiger Claw couldn't help asking; knowing most other assassins wouldn't have hesitated to take him out if they had even the slightest ghost of a chance.

"Pfft! Where's the fun in that?! I mean, I could and if you didn't interest me, I suppose I'd be tempted, but… like I said before, it doesn't seem fair. There's no honor in killing you when you're like this. I just need to keep you at bay while I put the kibosh on your boss. Nothing personal." Savage told him with an airy shrug and gesture of her gloved hands; her suit covering up the previously exposed one while she did so and making Tiger Claw wonder just what the heck could possibly do that.

He didn't believe in demons, but he'd worked for the Kraang long enough to know a lot of strange things existed in this and other worlds. For all he knew, Savage wasn't even human… Not that the mental brat behaved much like one anyway.

"Well, it's been fun, but, heh, I've got a lot more than just time to kill! See ya around Puddy Tat!" And with a playful wave, Savage tossed down a smoke pellet; disappearing from sight and leaving behind the faintest scent of the sweet fragrance behind.

There was a moment where his mind went blank; a little thrown by all that had just happened. Then, he gave a loud roar, before trying to fight and claw his way to the pellet the other had left for him, so he could get out of the disgusting green goop the manic murderer had called Gobwebs.

He was going to find that little brat and skin him alive for treating him so… so… GRRR! There wasn't a word for how he felt! Violated and embarrassed was in the top five though.

Even if the petting his tail received had felt _very nice and soothing_… no one touched him like that! EVER! And though he could not help but to be astonished by the others oddly honorable character, he would make Savage pay for such inappropriate behavior, that was for certain!

While he fought to get free, Malakaia made her way toward where his boss was supposed to be that night. She'd hidden Mr. A in a safe place, so she was free to finish off the other half of the job. If you call a chained up footlocker with holes in it a safe place…

After all, she DID technically get rid of the assassin. And if she killed his paycheck with legs (Mr. B), then he'd have no reason to kill Mr. A and would leave him alone… Well, probably. At least that was the logic she was going with until she got the other half of her payment.

It wasn't all that difficult to find the cocky bastard that was Mr. B. Thinking he'd hired the best of the best and that all was well, the guy was just way too arrogant about his chances of killing the competition and getting his way to think Mr. A would hire someone to come after him since the old man wasn't even supposed to have known what he was up to.

So there he was, sitting comfortably in the fancy nightclub he owned with skanks and bodyguards around him; drinking, laughing and being annoyingly merry. His smugness bothered Kaia, and she couldn't help feeling a bit like crashing his party.

Okay, maybe more than a little bit. Probably a whole lot would've been more apt. But, heh, she was the modest type. Seeing as the club was full of filth of all kinds; from prostitutes to drug dealers, to pretty much the usual riffraff that losers like Mr. B kept around him, the uncanny assassin thought that evacuating the place before going after the guy or just being careful was unnecessary.

After making quick work of locking the back and front entrances to the windowless club with Gobwebs so no one could get in or out, Savage went back up to the roof to the skylight she'd been surveying the scene from and entered stealthily.

Mr. B had ever so smugly been enjoying his evening, when suddenly he was engulfed in a large cloud of blackish indigo smoke and felt something grab him! He screamed out shrilly from surprise at the strange, cool and slimy substance that stuck him to the wall he'd been roughly slammed against.

A few people screamed and began to panic; wondering what the heck was going on, when someone began tapping at the microphone on stage so it made that high pitched noise that made everyone cover their ears and cringe.

"Now that I have your attention!" Called a creepy male polytone voice from up on stage. Everyone turned their eyes upon the dark, hooded figure who now stood up there with a mic in what they thought was _his_ hand.

"Hello everyone! So-ooo psyched to be here, and see all you future morticians delights. My name's Savage, and for tonight only, I'll be your death! Now let's all form a neat and orderly- ah, y'know what? Just do whatever you want. It's more interesting that way!" Savage told them all jovially with an airy "whatever" wave, before tossing out a Roller Bomb in the middle of the crowd to get the party started.

Everyone had been too stunned and confused to grasp what was happening until the little explosive went off and took out the few people around it; spattering blood and other gory goodies on those around it.

Then they began running around and screaming like a bunch of panicked chickens that just figured out Colonel Sanders had trapped them in his kitchen of extra crispy doom.

They tried to get out but the doors wouldn't give with all the slimy green goop that held them in place. She laughed at seeing them try to get away, and went about slaughtering every since one of them with either her clawed weapons, explosives, acid pellets, bare hands, or whatever she could find at hand around the club.

"Morticians delights? Get it?! Cuz you'll be dead! Oh c'mon people! That joke usually KILLS!" Savage yelled out while stabbing a broken bottle through some woman's eye and through her brain; giving it a squelching twist before letting the body drop to the floor and moving on to her next victim.

"I mean, ya know, if I don't getcha first, heheh!" The mad kunoichi giggled while she whittled the occupants of the club down to the man who owned it; Mr. B. "Hey there Victim!" Savage greeted cheerfully; feeling in a pretty good mood from all her "anger managing".

The man screamed for the demented assassin to get away from him when the other began walking toward him. After seeing all the carnage this little monster had wrought, he didn't want to know what was about to happen to him.

She scaled up the wall like a spider to where she'd stuck him and rested her chin against the palm of her hand as if bored. "So! Met that guy you hired to kill my client." The man whimpered and began to sweat; wondering what kind of demon this guy was to go up against a freaky tiger mutant and survive.

"I don't get why he's called most "feared" of anything. He looks so cute and cuddly to me." Kaia mused aloud. Mr. B gulped; assuming Tiger Claw must be dead if Savage and his competition were still alive. Why hadn't anyone told him Mr. A had hired his own killer?!

"I mean, you get why I've got my title, _right_?" She made him look at her by placing the tip of one of her blades under his chin and pulling his face up; as he had been silently praying to whatever God might listen.

He nodded vigorously. "Y-y-yeah! V-very sc-scary! Good job!" Mr. B told the other in hopes he might live. "See! You get it! I don't think he gets it though. I mean, he does the whole rwar and 'I'm so vicious I'ma bite your head off' thing, but with the way he looks, I'm afraid dat ol' Puddy Tat just comes off like the adorable little tiger plushie I have at home. You know, like those lil' beanie baby lookin' things?"

_Blah blah blablah_

_Blah blah blablah _

_Blah blablahblablah~!_

Mr. B nodded; wondering why the psycho had to prattle on like this but thankful it was keeping him alive. "Yeah, kinda all cute like those. Got one as a present once from- well, I won't say who. But I liked it. I have a turtle one too. Oh! And a panda. Huh, quite a few now that I think about it…" The kunoichi rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Not that I collect them! I just keep getting them." Savage defended slightly; it wasn't like she could help it if her little brother kept getting them for her. Ya tell a kid how cute a gift it is and next thing you know you've got a boxful in your closet taking up space with its tiny, plushie adorableness.

_Wanna join me, come and play._

_But I might shoot you, in your face._

This incessant chattering of hers continued on and on for quite some time, with Mr. B almost wishing she'd end it all so he wouldn't have to listen to any more. But eventually Tiger Claw showed up; entering in through the skylight as she had.

The first thing Tiger Claw noticed as he drew nearer to the nightclub was the overpowering smell of sweat, alcohol, blood, flayed and burning flesh, fear, and all the unpleasantness that came with death and a shady night club. But to him, most prominent among them, was the alluring scent of vanilla and spices that almost seemed to mock him with its innocent sweetness.

Some weird, upbeat song with even weirder lyrics was playing loudly on the speakers when he entered. He couldn't help wondering if his quarry had put it on while waiting for him to show up. The thought irked him and made his ears flick back; mostly as they were sensitive to the blaring caterwauling of the song.

_Bombs and bullets will, do the trick._

_What we need here, is a little bit of panic!_

"Oh good! You're here." She sat up against her spidery perch on the wall beside her target. "It's a good thing you showed up when you did. This guy wasn't much of a talker. Even less than you, if you can imagine that!" Savage told Tiger Claw casually, before impaling boss B on one of her long, slender metal claws; acting as if she wasn't killing anyone and that they were instead having a nice conversation about puppies.

The tiger mutants eyes widened and he roared in anger at seeing his client dead and his mission failed, as she made quick work of lopping off Mr. B's head and tossing it in a black backpack he hadn't noticed on her until now; seeing as they actually had light with which to see by in the flashy club.

_Do you ever wanna catch me?_

_Right now I'm feeling ignored!_

Her eyes widened when she saw him angrily lunge at her while she was trying to get the morons head in her bag, and had to take a moment to push herself off of the wall and dodge him; landing with a mid-air flip on the floor a ways behind her playmate.

As she stood up from her crouched landing, she heard the sound of clawing and saw he'd made a few marks in the wall with those really sharp looking black claws of his when he'd made to attack her.

Savage finally managed to get the head in the bag and put it back over her shoulders as she took off running around the club to get away from the angry tiger guy. Apparently he wasn't to pleased to be there. And after she'd been so nice to give him a way out of the Gobwebs and everything. What a sourpuss…

_So can you try a little harder?_

_I'm really getting bored!_

"Not that I don't get the whole 'thrill of the chase' thing, cuz I do, but what's got your fur so ruffled? I didn't kill you, ya know!" The hooded bane of his existence told him; sounding a bit indignant about the feline assassins pissed off pursuit and barrage of attacks_._

"Don't you EVER shut up, you little brat?!" The tiger mutant bellowed; the others blathering getting to him more than he knew it should've, as he fired at her with his twin pistols; one firing blue lasers that froze things while the other fired red lasers that heated things as it was a regular laser.

_Come on, shoot faster,_

_Just a little bit of energy!_

"Mmmeh, nope! I mean I could if I wanted to, but that's just not how I roll yo!" Savage chuckled before yelping a little when one of his laser blasts came a little too close for comfort and exploded a bottle of fancy hooch to her left.

It wasn't like she was just running away. She was ducking, dodging, and maneuvering around tables, chairs, dead bodies, heheh parts of dead bodies, and other things while throwing things or knocking stuff over to slow him down, attempt to hit him or to block some of his shots. Like when she tossed a slightly charred spleen at his face.

_I wanna try something fun right now,_

_I guess some people call it anarchy! _

Trying to avoid grievous bodily harm was a lot harder than causing it. And right now she had a really angry kitty on her metaphorical tail, with no catnip to help. Every now and then he would get close enough that he couldn't use his guns though, but she could use her tekko-kagi.

Then he had to use his own short sword and claws to fend her off. That was also when both of them ended up getting rather lost in their deadly duel. Fighting up close and personal like they were, and with the sheer ferocity and skill; the two warriors got a much better sense of who it was they were up against.

_Let's blow this city to ashes, _

_And see what Pow-Pow thinks. _

And both Tiger Claw and Savage found themselves rather impressed by the other as they engaged in a deadly duel of a dance; the two of them using their entire bodies as weapons in a violent rhythm with their actual ones.

The tiger mutant finally felt like he'd met his match. The way the other fought like a true and most adroit warrior made him think this Savage kid was a worthy rival indeed. He'd never met anyone who could not only keep up and match him blow for blow, but actually land attacks and even outmaneuver him!

_It's such pathetic neatness,_

_But not for long 'cause it'll get jinxed!_

The smaller assassin seemed to be just as much a cunning predator as himself, and that was something he had yet to come across in all his time as one. Kaia was having fun mostly because her opponent had lasted so long and had yet to become boring.

It wasn't often she came across anyone who could give her a challenge. Much less one who made it interesting and looked like a big cuddly plushie. She did think it was kind of cheating he used guns though…

Kaia could've fought with guns like him, but personally she didn't think it was much of a challenge, and tended to make a real assassin become sloppy by relying on such things. If there were firearms laying around or where the kunoichi could get to them, and she thought it was necessary, she might use them. But otherwise preferred to stick to her own skills to stay sharp.

_So much better, so much fun._

_Let's start from scratch and, blow up the sun!_

Tiger Claw managed to knock her back against the long bar that ran through part of the club. Her back hit the counter hard and she fell to the ground, stunned; a few things that had been on the counter falling down beside her with a clatter.

"Playtime is over, little Cub." Tiger Claw told her as he pointed his red laser pistol right at her. Looking up she saw there was barely five or six feet between them, so not really much time to dodge the attack…

_Come on, shoot faster,_

_Just a little bit of energy!_

A somewhat silvery glint caught her eye by her right foot and then she smirked behind her mask as she got an idea. "Awww! Are you _sure_? The night's still young! I mean, we've got the whole place to ourselves. We could karaoke! You wouldn't happen to know that song called-" She prattled on in her usual insanely inane way.

"I really hope your death silences you!" He snarled; cutting her off as he pulled the trigger. But just as she saw him doing so, she used her foot to kick the silvery serving tray by her foot up into her hands and use it to reflect the shot as she ducked down beneath it in case it went through.

_I wanna try something fun right now,_

_I guess some people call it anarchy!_

The laser bounced off of the tray and hit one of the many shiny mirrored surfaces in the tacky club; ricocheting it around and distracting Tiger Claw like a laser pen distracts a kitten, as his eyes went wide and his pupils dilated.

She used the distraction to get up and get away; using the tray to deflect the stray shot, but stopping dead at the sound of a painful roar of a howl coming from behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened to see her rival on his knees in pain.

_Let's blow this city to ashes, _

_And see what Pow-Pow thinks._

And behind him lay… his tail?! The stray shot had, in some freak accident, reflected back and hit his tail; cutting it right off of him! Before she could think, Kaia ran over and snatched it up; continuing to quickly backup with it so as to put a safe distance between them.

"Holy faux pas, Catman!" She exclaimed in disbelief as she held the others tail in her hands. "I know I said I was gonna take your tail and all, but I didn't think you'd be so sweet as to do it for me… Wow, you're a real thoughtful guy, ya know that? I mean, I would've actually left it alone since it's more fun on you, but I'm not gonna look a gift tiger in the mouth; especially since you don't seem to understand the concept of brushing. Whew! Tuna breath from hell! Ever heard of a breath mint, Bub? " Savage played, while her fellow mutant growled and tried to get up to attack her, but fell over in a comical face plant that totally killed his whole scary "I'ma rip your throat out" thing he had going on for that split second.

_It's such pathetic neatness,_

_But not for long 'cause it'll get jinxed!_

It seemed his tail helped with his balance somehow, and without it he wasn't such a smooth operator. Kaia blinked; bemused and intrigued. "Uhm… O-oooooookay… I think I'ma just take this and go then." She said while taking his tail and stashing it away in her backpack with the severed head.

"WHAT?! No! You're not going anywhere!" He exclaimed indignantly; trying to get up and walk toward her, but ending up all adorably wobbly and falling back down like a baby deer trying to learn how to walk.

It actually almost made her feel bad he'd lost his tail… well, _almost. _Well, maybe a tiny bit. He WAS trying to kill her and all. But that was just standard assassin business when you were on opposite sides of the contract she supposed.

_Come on!_

_Come on!_

_And get jinxed! _

Savage sweat dropped and rubbed the back of her head. "As much fun as I'm having watching you act like a baby giraffe with restless leg syndrome… I can't take this fight seriously anymore. There's no honor in killing you like this." She heaved a sigh of slight annoyance.

"If you weren't so hell-bent on killing me, we could be karaokeing by now. But no-oooooo! You went and shot off your own tail like some kinda putz." The shorter killer chided with crossed arms poutingly.

"But whatevs." She shrugged; her insanely airy tone returning. "We can finish this another day. And hey, if you win, I'll think about giving you back your tail. Cuz I'm a good sport like that." As he tried to hobble toward her and repeatedly fall, she continued to move back away from him.

However, he was determined not to let her get away, and began to reach for one of his pistols. "This is NOT over, you psychotic whelp!" He snarled, before managing a small "Huh?" when he saw a colorful smoking ball roll towards his feet.

The pale blue smoke engulfed him and though he tried not to breath it in, he didn't have a mask to keep him safe from its effects like Savage did. It began making him feel very sleepy and woozy.

"I shall… have… my vengeance… Savage…!" Tiger Claw grumbled growlingly; sounding and feeling more tired by the second, until he did one last face plant into unconsciousness. She waited a few minutes for the smoke to clear away. And after poking him a couple of times with the end of a barstool just to be sure, did she deem him out like a light.

"Poor ol' Puddy Tat. When is he evah gonna wearn." Kaia jested in her best Tweety bird impersonation, as she gave a shrug with her hands to emphasis her words in an "Oh well" sorta way.

Tiger Claw woke up groggily over an hour later on some rooftop overlooking the roaring blaze that had become the nightclub. Savage had set it on fire with the help of all the booze they had in there and some of her own explosives. Making sure she got rid of any evidence that might show what really transpired in there that night.

His head felt cloudy, his mouth felt like it was full of sandpaper, and for some reason the base of his tail really hurt. But as he reached back to see why, did the mutant male recollect that it ended up being shot off by his own stray shot and stolen by that madman Savage.

He would've roared in anger and despair, had he not had his attention caught by a familiar sweet scent and the feeling of something warm around his neck, along with the soft sound of rustling of paper.

Looking down, he spotted the two tails of a light blue scarf fluttering around his neck. Attached to the end of one with a safety pin was a piece of paper with hasty writing on it. He lifted it up to his eyes to read.

"_Dear Puddy Tat, otherwise known henceforth, as Sir Nubbins,_

_Sorry about your tail. Had to take it with me or I wouldn't have kept my word when I told you earlier that I'd take it. My word is my bond and all that. _

_Good news though! Your laser seems to have cauterized the wound on impact, but I'd still get that looked at if I were you. _

_Oh, by the way, since it's kinda cold out, I'm letting you borrow my scarf until we meet again to finish our duel. So keep it safe for me, wouldja? It's my favorite one. Can't have you catching your death of cold before I've had another chance at you, now can I? Well, kill ya later, Puddy Tat!_

_Love,_

_Your rival, Savage. xoxo" _

Tiger Claw felt his eye twitch by the end of the letter; his lip curling over his fangs before he closed his fist tightly around the ever so mocking yet somehow polite letter and crumpling it.

For a while he just stood there wobbling some; fuming and thinking about just what horrible things he could do to that cocky little brat once he got his claws on him. He un-crumpled the letter, folded it and slipped it into the pocket of his pants before trying to pick up the others trail to kill the little bugger.

Unfortunately, he was still having issues staying upright and balanced with his tail gone. So with an exasperated growl, the mutant tiger ended up heading back to his hotel to sit and smolder as he glared daggers at the nicely smelling scarf in his hands.

It was very soft and had kept him warm, he had to admit… and it smelled wonderfully of vanilla and spices like he'd become acquainted with earlier that night. But the fact that his rival, who could've killed him multiple times, had given it to him in such a way to ensure his health…

Well… it had him utterly baffled to say the least. He had never seen such integrity in an assassin before… especially not in someone so young. But this Savage, who had mercilessly slaughtered so many in that nightclub, had gone out of his way to spare Tiger Claw from sharing their fate.

Why? Why would anyone do such a thing? Was it because the madman was stupid? No… That was obviously not the case. The other could prattle on like an idiot, but that was just a clever way to throw people off and make them easier targets.

Was it because the other was insane? Well, that certainly seemed quite possible. But somehow, Tiger Claw sensed a kindred warriors spirit in the young cub. He too had his own sense of honor, and had the shoe been on the other foot and his rival been unable to fight, he would have postponed the fight for another time.

His own pride and emotions at the time hadn't let him see what the other was trying to do for him, but now that he'd had time to think it over, the tiger man was glad the other hadn't given him such a shameful death.

And now he had their re-match to look forward to, along with some vengeance and getting his tail back. So from then on, even though his partnership with the Kraang prevented him from leaving Japan for the time being, Tiger Claw trained tirelessly until he could fight again without the use of his tail.

Meanwhile, the devious demented degenerate of a kunoichi returned to America after giving her client the targets head as proof and collecting her paycheck; and a bonus for messing up his club.

She asked her sensei Haruhi if there was a way to store the tiger mutants tail so it would be preserved in case the day came when he wanted it back. Thankfully they could do stuff like that.

When Jenny asked why the heck she had a severed tigers tail, Kaia just smirked and said "Heh, souvenir!" and then asked if there was any way the geeky redhead could duplicate the fur on the tail.

Jenny eventually figured out how to copy the part of the tail her twisted friend wanted; finding it an odd request. But then being further disturbed when Kaia had the two copies of the others tail made into a comfy scarf to replace the one she was loaning Tiger Claw.

_**~End Flashback~ **_

And from then on, the orange-blonde wore her tiger scarf as often as she could. It was just so soft and fluffy and cuddly! She liked nuzzling it against her face or just running her hands over it; much like she was now while her father prattled on about some new job.

It was some junk about popping off some shmuck who was embezzling funds from the mobster he was working for. The guy was a total putz, and it didn't take very long for her to complete.

The hit was even in NYC, so it wasn't like she had to travel far. Plus it paid pretty well, so she didn't mind taking care of it. Her dad had his commission by the end of the night and was gone by the time she woke up to go and see Martin off to school.

All in all, a good nights work if she had to say so. And she did tell Danny after he got back from the artist class he was taking to improve his skills. But still… As she hung out with her male friend, her thoughts couldn't help but wonder if that jerky turtle with a temper as short as himself was going to cause any more unnecessary trouble.

Ah well. She supposed if he did Jen might tell her or she'd hear about in on the news. But until then, why worry about it? So Kaia went back to killing Nazi zombies on the weird yet addictive game they were playing and enjoyed the rest of her day.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**DUN DUN DUUUUUN! XD So anywho! I watched the episode "The Manhattan Project" yet again, which Tiger Claw first makes his appearance in and he doesn't give much detail about who cut off his tail, except that it was a rival of his whom he calls a "he". So I decided to put a fun spin on it and have it be so that he just THOUGHT it was a guy. XD It's also how he got that cute blue scarf that, let's face it, stands out on him in an awesome way. I mean, I like the idea it had a backstory so I made one! **

**My fellow author Anti-Carly likes the idea of my OC Kaia and Tiger Claw ending up in a romance, which I agree would be pretty wicked. But I have plans for who she ends up with. Still... I've yet to really decide now that the thought is in my mind, so it's fun to keep my lovely readers guessing. ;3**

**Until next chapter... Tootles! **


	8. Alone Together

**Disclaimer: Ch 1.**

**Author's Note(s): X3 I was going to have the next chapter be the episode "Turtle Temper" but figured I should fit in my other OC Danny since it makes better sense to me. ^_^ **

**The title of the chapter is inspired by the song "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy. LoL It made me laugh and think "this is so hilariously fitting. XD**

**I've always seen Mikey as an adorable little turtle who LOVES to hug. LOL But his bros aren't too into that, so they usually swat at him or threaten him. He gets April sometimes with hugs though XD much to Donnie's chagrin I imagine. But Danny is a laidback, sweet guy when he isn't out kicking butt, so he doesn't mind because Mikey is so cute and nice and he likes hugs too. But like Kaia and the rest of my OC's, and pretty much any character in general, there's more to Danny than meets the eye. But he is a great guy in his own way I think. :3**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>"Alone Together"<strong>

As a little time passed, and the four turtles got to spend more time topside, Mikey saw how the humans interacted and got along with one another; observing their lives from afar. And he began to wish he had friends. Or at least one.

Yeah, his brothers were cool and all, and he loved them a whole lot. But it wasn't the same as having a friend all to yourself. April didn't count because they'd saved her, and so she had to like them. That's how Mikey saw it.

But he was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. How was a guy like him supposed to go about making friends? Master Splinter had warned them for years how dangerous it was to show themselves to humans.

Not to mention he'd read enough comic books to know all the bad that could happen; like ending up in some government lab getting experimented on or hunted like some kind of monster. Just how was a guy supposed to get pizza with all that going on?

Even so, he was an optimist and knew that in some of his comics the so-called monsters and mutants were accepted and able to make friends with certain people. And he really wanted to have hope that somewhere out there, was a person who could accept him and his family, and be his friend…

So every once in a while, when he went to go skate around the sewers, Mikey liked to make a little trip up top and just view the city by himself. He wasn't sure why, it usually just made him feel lonelier when he did his "people watching" that way than it would've had his brothers been there.

Something simply gnawed at him to do it every time though. But then, something happened, which made him grateful for having listened to it. Because during one of his little trips to the surface, when Michelangelo had been hiding up on a roof watching people interacting in front of a little café, he saw something more that caught his attention.

He wasn't sure why a particular person caught his eye, maybe it was how the sunlight hitting his ash-brown hair made it light up like it was made out of sunshine or something, but Mikey couldn't help thinking the sunny haired guy below looked interesting.

The bright ash-brunet looked to be a teenager like him, and close to his age more or less, and was wearing an outfit that the young turtle couldn't help thinking made the human look… _cute_. Little did he know, he was watching Danny Astin.

Danny had just finished up with his art class for the day and had just gotten himself something to eat and was taking it home; as he didn't feel like cooking, when a commotion caught his attention.

Across the street were three stray dogs who were hot on the tail (pun intended) of a poor little cat! Without thinking, and a sense of wanting to protect a helpless animal, Danny rushed across to the other side of the street, around a few corners and down an alley to try and help the poor thing.

Unbeknownst to him, was a turtle shaped shadow following along the rooftops to see what he was up to. The mongrels had the poor thing cornered and were growling viciously as they closed in on it. Danny picked up the lid of a trashcan and began smacking it loudly against the side of the wall and yelling.

The noisy clatter scared the heck out of the dogs and they hurried along as he waved it at them threateningly and yelled while backing up towards the cat. When they skittered away, Danny set the lid down and then approached the feline slowly.

"There now. They won't hurt you lil fella." The ash-brunet said in a sweet, gentle voice that made the orange banded ninjas heart feel like it had sprouted wings and was fluttering. Huh… that had never happened to him before…

The cat was still pretty freaked out and was backed up against the corner as Danny got down on his knees a little ways from it. He opened up his bag of food and pulled off some turkey from the sub sandwich that was inside and gently tossed it to the cat.

It sniffed and eyed the food, and then the human, before cautiously going up to it as it saw the boy didn't seem threatening. After it slowly ate that, Danny offered it a little more, but made it come closer this time.

The cat was eating out of his fingers by the third time he did this, and now knew he was a friend. It mewed happily, and so Danny folded up his bag of goodies and then picked up the cat and began heading out of the alley.

"Don't worry. You can stay with me for a while. Lucky for you, I've got a weakness for cute things." The secret ninja said jokingly to the cat; although he really did have a fondness for animals and cute things. Heh, he couldn't help thing that was probably why he could put up with Kaia as well as he did.

The turtle above had been moved by the heartwarming sight, and began to think that maybe not all humans were so scary after all… Mikey decided to follow them back to wherever the sunny brunet was going, telling himself it was just to make sure they got home safe.

Danny took the cat up to the room he lived in above the comic book shop where he worked. Since his dad owned it and wasn't using the space, Danny figured he might as well get some use out of it.

Locking the door behind him, he set the kitten down before placing his dinner on the table. He then went to fetch what he needed to clean his new pet. Mikey did his best to peek into the living room window through the fire escape from the roof he was perched on without being seen.

From his hiding spot, he watched the other go about his evening through the few windows available. He saw how the sunny human washed and groomed the cat, and then later shared his meal with it and talked to it. He wished he could hear what the other was saying though.

And after Danny had gone to watch some television in the living room, Mikey found himself creeping as close as he could without noticed, so he could sit and watch it too. It was odd, but it kind of felt like they were watching it together in some weird yet nice way.

He wondered if it would feel nicer if they could be friends and actually be sitting together… Mikey sighed quietly and just tried to enjoy the moment and not think about stuff that just ended up making him feel all sad and lonely.

For over a week, at least, if you added it all together, Michelangelo would sneak out of the lair to visit the sunny brunets place and watch him from afar. And the more of the nice human he saw, the nicer he thought he seemed.

Danny treated the cat well; getting it a food and water bowl with goodies to go in it, a collar with a little bell, and some cute kitty toys to play with like a squeaky mouse. Mikey had been all tickled to have seen the human and the cat all snuggled up on the couch while watching some television. It was so cute!

He wondered what he'd named the cat. If they were friends, Mikey would've been a great help because he was very good at naming stuff! Danny thought it was odd how he kept getting the strange sense someone was staring at him.

At first he thought it might have been the kitten he'd rescued, but after a while, felt it might not be. Though for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. Then, as he was passing the window one evening, he saw something move; in a ducking down motion on the roof across from the window he'd passed.

He gave a little "Hmm" of consideration. He hoped it wasn't Kraang related, or he might actually get pissed off. So, Danny went to pretend to go to his bedroom, and snuck out to investigate.

Coming up around to the roof, he spotted the movement as stealthily as possible, he saw what looked like the back of an oddly round person. In the dim light, his eyes made out what looked like a… turtle shell?

Wait… was that one of those turtles he'd seen the other night? Danny crept closer and heard it making an annoyed whining sound as it shifted around in a comically spastic way like a little kid that was getting impatient waiting in line.

"Nnnnugh! Where'd he go-oooo? I can't see him?! Did he go to sleep already?" Mikey groaned and fussed impatiently to himself as the other disappeared into some other room he couldn't see from where he was.

He knew it was the humans bedroom from having seen him asleep in it once through the window on the other side of where he was. But he'd felt all weird in a warm and squirmy way at seeing the kindly brunet all snug in his bed asleep like that. So he had to hurry back home; wondering why his face felt so hot and tingly and if it had anything to do with that peanut butter and jalapeno pizza he had earlier.

The turtle frowned in a pouting manner as he got up; ready to go see what the other was doing. Though he felt hesitant to do so. What if the human was getting undressed? His face heated up again and he had to give himself a mental shake.

But as he turned to go, Mikey ended up face to face with the cute teenager he'd been spying on. "BWAAAAH!" Mikey screamed in bug eyed shock as he fell backwards. Danny's eyes widened and he quickly moved forward and caught the other by his forearm and pulled him up.

Mikey ended up falling in reverse, which felt kinda cool really, and ended up with his face full of white polo shirt. It felt nice and soft, and smelled all super good; like clean soapy goodness, a hint of some crisp body spray, and something else _really_ nice, which was actually Danny himself.

The others chest his face had landed against was firm yet comfy. And as he held up his hands against it to push slowly away as he regained his footing, his fingers could feel the sinewy muscles underneath of the slightly loose polo shirt.

His face felt all warm again as he swallowed hard and then got up the courage to look up at the humans face. The orange banded ninja thought he might end up getting attacked for being a mutant freak or yelled at, or something.

Heck, even the other freaking out and screaming like he had would have been more expected than the curiously concerned look the other had on that gentle face of his. "You okay?" Danny asked in a voice just loud enough for the other to hear; worried he might frighten him again.

He hadn't meant to. Danny'd just been about to ask what the other was doing when he'd turned around and spazzed out like that. "Uh… y-yeah…" Mikey uttered uncertainly; his mind drawing more of a blank than usual.

Mikey didn't know why such shyness had come over him or why he was feeling and acting the way he was. The youngest turtle was usually so social and chatty. But now… He his mind couldn't stop noticing nice things about the human.

The human looked a lot nicer up close. He had a really sweet face and warm, deep eyes; like pools of rich honey that made Mikey feel all serene and safe. Danny smiled gently at the other; his hands still securely on either side of the others forearms.

This turtle surprised him. Danny hadn't gotten to actually see them last time, but now that he did, he was very glad of it. This terrapin had big, bright blue eyes that looked so full of adorably innocence and mirth that it made his smile widen as he examined the others face.

"Sorry I scared you. I didn't mean to." Danny apologized sincerely. "Oh, well, that's okay." Mikey said with a sheepish smile. "I didn't mean to freak out." He admitted; feeling a little lame, but the other made no inkling that he thought so, which helped, because his bros never would've let him live it down.

"Guess we're even then." Daniel told him good-naturedly; taking a slow step back and letting go of the others arms to offer his hand now that the other could stand on his own. "I'm Danny. Danny Astin."

The young terrapin blinked in confusion and surprise, before he smiled and accepted the hand cautiously; as if it was all too good to be true. "I'm Michelangelo. But you can call me Mikey."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mikey." The others warm hand closed gingerly around his three-fingered one and shook it. "Likewise." The turtle felt his confidence coming back as he figured the other would've done something bad to him by now if that was his intention.

"So if you don't mind my asking, what're you doing out here?" Even if the question was being asked in a nice way, Mikey blanched and then rubbed the back of his head as he averted his eyes. "M-me?! I wasn't doing anything! Definitely NOT spying on you. Cuz you know, that would be weird." He lied horribly.

"Uh huh…" Danny stated skeptically; his eyebrow raised in an expression of amusement and disbelief as he folded his arms loosely over his chest. He tried to think of what he should do with the cute turtle, before he got an idea that might be fun.

"Are you hungry? Because I was about to order a pizza or something if you wanna come in for a while." The ash-brunet offered affably. He found Michelangelo to be really interesting and wanted to know more about him.

After all, Jenny was getting along well with the turtles from what they'd talked about. Heck, even Kaia had confessed to meeting one. Though she didn't really seem too pleased about how rude the red masked turtle had been.

Mikey's eyes widened at the word "Pizza" as they turned to stare up at the slightly taller teen. "You… wanna eat pizza… with _me_?" He asked in disbelief; his big blue eyes shimmering with hope and curiosity.

"Well, yeah. Do you not like pizza? We can get something else if you-" Danny began as his smile fell slightly; wondering if he had offended the other. "NO! Er… I mean, no that's okay. It's actually one of my favorite things to eat." Mikey blushed a little as he recovered from his little outburst; rubbing the back of his head.

"It's just… isn't that what _friends_ do?" Daniel blinked at the others question, before his eyes crescented in a warm smile. "Friends can do that, yes. And if it's okay, I'd like to be friends with you Mikey." He said sweetly.

Mikey gazed up at the other as his eyes became all large and glassy like a puppy's on an anime, before he lurched forward suddenly to hug the kindly human; nearly knocking him over as their background went all sparkly with pink and orange mist, and for some odd reason, matching roses and petals.

"I would so totally LOVE that!" The turtle proclaimed excitedly as he hugged the area around the others ribcage. Thankfully Danny had caught the terrapin and managed to get his footing before they fell over.

He couldn't help being completely taken aback by the sudden display of affection and felt his face heat up, before he grinned warmly at the adorable green ninja and returned the hug with an arm around the others shell and a pat on the head.

"You know, so would I." Danny found himself saying aloud to the other in a low, slightly husky voice that was meant to be warm and friendly. But it made Mikey feel all squirmy and warm and super happy anyways, that he gave the others chest a nuzzle with his cheek before pulling back as abruptly as he had moved in to beam up at the other.

"Awesome!" He chimed in his bubbly voice; making Dan chortle in good humor. The two of them scaled down the fire escape of the building they were on, and he met Mikey at the window to his living room after he went back inside the way he got out.

He watched as the turtle tentatively climbed in and looked around the apartment in awe; those big ocean blue eyes so expressive Daniel found himself staring at them, and ended up blushing a little and turning away to clear his throat when he realized Mikey was beaming at him expectantly.

"R-right… I'll go call in the order. What kind of pizza toppings do you like anyways, Mikey?" He asked as he pulled out his cellphone from the pants pocket of his jeans as the turtle went back to looking around.

He wondered why the humans face had gotten all red like that. It was a nice color on him, but Mikey was too psyched to have given it much thought, as he tentatively dared to walk slowly around the living room.

"Oh the usual stuff. Pepperoni, black olives, extra cheese, gummy bears, chocolate, marshmallows, jelly beans, jalapeños, that sorta thing." The young turtle gave a nonchalant shrug as he smoothed his fingers over the back of the couch. "You have a pretty cool place."

In fact, he thought this human had a _really_ nice place. The living room was pretty roomy. Danny's mother worked in the fashion business and his dad was a comic book editor who was a bit eccentric and wanted to own his own comic book store.

So in other words, they had money, but since only her son used the apartment and he asked her not to go overboard when she offered to help him shop for furniture and such, it was a modest yet nice place to live the ash-brunet thought.

Even though he made money in the comic shop, the bills were handled and she gave him a monthly allowance for food and whatever, so he got by just fine and whatever extra he didn't use into a savings account just in case.

Although it was a pretty lonely lifestyle. That's mostly why he preferred keeping his mind off of it by going out to fight crime and evil and didn't mind watching Kaia's little brother when she needed help.

Besides, Martin was a sweet kid who was a major nerd when it came to things like the board game called Mutants and Mazes, and Danny couldn't blame him. He was a nerd too, though more on the otaku side since he preferred anime and manga, as they had more Yaoi and Shounen-Ai pairings.

In truth, he appreciated the company of Michelangelo, just as the turtle was glad of his. He couldn't help chuckling at the others taste in toppings. "Okay. I'll see what I can do." Dan told the other before ordering a super supreme pizza with jalapeños, and pineapple.

Then, just to see what Mikey would do, he went and took out a bag of marshmallows he found in the cabinet; as he was interested to see how it would taste and if the turtle would use it. He liked trying weird and new things, and had actually eaten pizza with jelly beans before and liked it.

His friends thought he was a bit odd, but they couldn't really talk since they each had their own freaky favorite type of pizza as well. But hey, everyone was different. While they waited for the food, they went and watched some tv.

He had a channel that showed all sorts of anime, which was usually the channel that Danny left it on. Mikey's eyes grew huge as he saw all the bright colors and asked him what kind of cartoon it was.

The ash-brunet explained about what anime was and then which one they were watching. It was some awesome yet comical anime called "Soul Eater". The episode had some character named Death the Kid in Egypt trying to collect Kishin souls so he could somehow upgrade his weapons partners and… uh… something about symmetry.

Dan and Mikey weren't exactly sure as they were too busy falling out laughing as the character kept spazzing out and trying to get some stupid battle pose right, and so on. They ate on the couch in front of the television after the food arrived.

Mikey even got to play with the kitten; which he was so totally stoked about doing by the way. It turned out that Danny hadn't come up with a name for her yet, and the sunny teen actually asked him if he had any suggestions! It was like he was dreaming…

He looked at the kitten, which was a pale blonde with white and tan markings and big brown eyes. And then he looked to Danny as he considered a name. Then, the orange banded terrapin offered up the name Sunny with a slight blush.

For some reason, the word came to mind, as it reminded him of how the others hair looked the first time it caught his eye. The ash-brunet thought the name was cute and thanked him as they played with Sunny during the commercials.

The two teens ended up enjoying themselves and lost track of time. When Mikey yawned, Danny checked the time on the tv and saw it was almost midnight, and he would have to be up early to go open up the shop.

He sighed and when Mikey asked what was wrong, he told him what time it was, and Mike started to freak out a little as he sprang up off of the couch. "Oh man! I gotta get home before they realize I'm missing!" He exclaimed; having tried his best to be careful about sneaking out.

Meanwhile, back at the lair. "Hey, where's Mikey?" Leo asked with mild interest as he ate a slice of pizza while he watched television with Raph; who was pretending to read a comic.

Donnie was busy in his lab, still not so secretly moping out how April blew him off to hang out with Jenny again. "Meh, I dunno." Raphael shrugged as he flipped a page aloofly. Leo gave him a flat look that said "Seriously?" before he shook his head and went back to watching some show.

"Hey, calm down. It's okay." Danny told him in a mellow, soothing tone as he got up and went over to place a hand on either of the short turtles shoulders. "Why are you so freaked about them knowing you're gone?"

Mikey's face glowed pink as his panic turned to bashfulness when he looked down at his feet and he shuffled them. "B-because um… I'm kinda… not supposed to go out… and, y'know… let anybody know I exist." He closed his eyes and flinched slightly at the last bit; hoping the other wouldn't think he was trying to insult him or anything.

Daniel stared at the other for a few seconds as he processed this, and then blinked before he gave his new friend a reassuring smile and pat on the head. "Oh, well that makes sense." He stated simply in his usual chill, upbeat manner.

Mikey blinked and looked up in confusion. "It does?" Dan nodded. "Well yeah, I mean, if most people saw a talking ninja turtle, they'd probably react negatively out of fear and you might get hurt. So it makes sense you have to hide."

There was a pause in which the turtle saw how the other frowned as if in disappointment for the way others behaved. "Which is a pity, since you're definitely worth getting to know, you know?"

And as the other smiled brightly with those sincere words, Michelangelo felt his heart go all fluttery again, but much more intensely like it had turned into a hummingbird what with how fast it beat, as an indescribably wonderful, giddy warmth spread throughout his whole being.

If the he could see his own soul, he would think it was glowing from the pleasant, tingly heat. It became harder to breath as his chest felt so light and yet so heavy at the same time. He was so touched by what the kindhearted human had said. Not even his own brothers had ever said anything as nice as that to him before.

An alarm went off in the young man as he saw those soulful blue pools beginning to mist up. "Mikey? Are you okay? Was it something I said?" He asked in an apologetic tone as his grip on the others shoulders slid down a bit to his upper arm and tightened ever so slightly; his hazel eyes gazing searchingly into the others as if he might figure out the problem that way.

But then, the happy turtle sprang forward and gave him another hug; squashing down his internal organs and any distress the human had previously had as relief flooded in. "No. I'm okay. I'm just really glad we're friends is all." He told his human friend all contentedly.

'_Oooooh! He's so cute!' _Danny thought gushingly as he happily returned the others hug; glad he was okay. "Me too." And for about twelve seconds, they stayed like that in blissful partial silence; with only the only noise being the television.

"So when do you have to be back?" At the humans question, Mikey groaned and buried his face into the soft folds of fabric covering the others chest; slouching a little so he could do so. He didn't wanna go home just yet.

They had been having such an awesome time! Just him and his cute new human friend and the kitty. Danny chuckled; getting the feeling the other didn't quite want to leave just yet. "It's cool. You're welcome to come back and visit if you want." He told him in an attempt to cheer him back up.

"Really?" He asked with those big puppy dog eyes; which was quite a feat for a turtle. "Yeah, just be careful in case someone else is here or down in the shop, m'kay?" Mikey smiled and nodded as he looked up at the other; thinking it was super freakin' awesome his new friend lived above a comic book shop.

"Well… Okay then… Guess I'll be going." Mikey said as he began to pull back out of the hug. But to his surprise, Danny pulled him back into it with a lighthearted laugh; wrapping his arms around the other and giving him a big hug to let him know everything was okay.

The others cuteness had taken its toll on the young mans self-control and he ended up giving the other that hug before his mind could think better of it. Though, as he pulled back and beamed that sunny smile at the other and found it returned, did Danny chalk up another point for good ol' instincts.

"Goodnight, Mikey. Get home safe, okay?" The handsome ash-brunet said as he stood aside after opening up the window for the other. "Pfft! No problem. I AM a ninja after all." He said coolly with a wink. "Be seein' ya Danny!" The turtle bayed before climbing out the window and vanishing into the night.

Even though the other had disappeared into the shadows like the adorable ninja he was, Danny gazed out into the night nonetheless, smiling and hoping his sweet new friend would find his way home safely so he could visit again…

He went to get ready for bed, as Mikey headed back to the lair. It didn't seem anyone really noticed his absence, which kinda bugged him. But he was somewhat grateful for it, as that meant no one would hassle him about where he had been for part of the night.

After that night, the orange banded ninja did his best to visit his human friend Danny as often as he could; what with trying to keep a low profile as to what he was up to at home, and since the sunny young man seemed to have a bit of a busy life as well since he had work, art class, and some study group with Jenny every now and then; which varied in length.

Danny told him that if Mikey had a phone, he could just text him when he would be home, which led the orange banded turtle to make several mentions to his smart brother Donnie as to how cool it would be to have phones; since it could be really handy on missions.

Donatello said he would think about it; but was still kinda sulking over the fact that not only could he not find April's dad, but that she didn't seem to return his feelings. Even Mikey could see the poor guy was trying, and wondered why he didn't try for Jenny instead. Mikey liked the redhead and thought she'd be a better match for his brainy brother.

The two mellow teens would just hang out and watch television or play video games, and fun stuff like that, and even go out to hang out on rooftops and eat pizza. They found out how much they had in common. Danny even let him borrow his comics so long as he promised to take care of them; which of course he did, and would do his best to hide them from his brothers.

He usually lied and said he found them somewhere like in a dumpster. Mikey didn't want his family to know about the whole fact that he'd gone against Master Splinter's warnings about humans and made a friend.

Mikey didn't want either him or Danny to get in trouble or for his brothers to make fun of him or Danny, or to tell him it was a bad idea because the sunny human might be evil or something.

The thought of anyone, even his family, saying anything bad about such a sweet guy upset the tenderhearted turtle. And also, a part of him liked having Danny all to himself. It was so awesome to have someone like the sunny teen paying attention to him and listening to him, and being able to talk to him; because Danny didn't make him feel stupid.

Sure, they played around and could both be goofy, but unlike his brothers, Danny never called him a moron or an idiot or even stupid. Or ever made him feel bad or small. He really liked being friends with Danny.

He was just one of those trustworthy kind of guys, the young turtle thought. The ash-brunet felt the same way about Mikey in the sense that he could trust him, and was more than happy to promise he would keep the existence of Mikey and his family a secret.

Although he did let his team know he'd befriended a turtle and he liked talking about him; most particularly with Jenny since she knew Mikey as well, he kept anything he knew was to stay private between him and the cute turtle.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**X3 Ahhhhh... Potential slash pairings! They make me giggle like the mad fangirl I am! Kuwahahahahahahahah!**

**Until next chapter... Tootles! Remember to review if you liked it or have constructive/helpful comments/tips. Reviews don't require you to be logged in unless you want me to reply back to them. LoL **


	9. Turtle Temper

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Finally finished editing this! XD Raph is such an angry turtle, what with his stubbornness and that whole "No one understands me but my pet turtle Spike!" angst going on and whatnot. LoL I think he's cute and funny in his own way, just the rest of the turtles.  
>Inspiration for Raph getting all comically googlie eyed and gushy over Kaia like Donnie gets over April was inspired by my friend Karl. XD<br>**

**Cookies and thanks to those who have reviewed so far and/or given me helpful feedback, etc. via PM. X3 **

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"Turtle Temper"<strong>

After his encounter with the mean pumpkin haired girl, Raphael had refrained from taking his anger out on regular people, and instead focused it on Kraang droids. But it didn't really feel like it was enough. Like all the anger and angst was just bottling up and waiting to explode a whole lotta ugly on whatever poor soul set him off.

The scene and her words kept replaying in his head over and over. And all it did was serve to make him angrier at himself and at her for being right. But mostly because he was in denial that he had a problem, and kept thinking she was wrong as well as wanting her to be too.

Raph had a perfectly normal amount of anger. He didn't have a "problem", and he sure as heck didn't have _"temper tantrums"! _Humph! That girl didn't know what she was talking about! He was fi-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine… Wasn't he?

Yeah. Definitely fine… At least, he thought he was, until the whole incident with that creep Vic who recorded them and then ended up getting mutated into some freaky spider thing (which Mikey called Spiderbytes) accidentally after the Kraang kidnapped him._ Ye-eeeah_… Raph hadn't counted on that…

That was when he began to realize that the orange-blonde may have had a point. If only a teeny_ tiny _one. He and his brothers had been hanging around a rooftop, waiting for what felt like hours, just because of some tip Donnie had gotten from April about there being Kraang in that area or something.

Jenny had been trying to keep her eye out for any signs of April's dad. There was a lot of Kraang activity within the city, but no real way to pinpoint it all. Those big pink snot wads were such sneaky buggers.

Upon hearing about a potential tip that might be useful, Jenny thought it best to let the turtles handle it, as Akira and their sensei had them occupied with a lot of other things. So it was the only way she could be in two places at once.

She asked April to relay the information to Donatello, since knowing he had a crush on the ginger, it would hopefully be easier to get them to take the lead and for them not to ask exactly how the young O'Neil had come upon it since the purple banded turtle would probably just be psyched April was talking to him.

And of course, Donnie took it hook, line, and sinker. The redhead sighed and shook her head at how easily the purple banded ninja let the ginger talk him into things. She felt kind of bad for him…

But seeing as he acted like a bit of a jerk toward her, such feelings didn't plague Jen for very long. Whatever got the job done she supposed. And that was how Raph and his brothers ended up on that roof.

And how they got themselves recorded on the phone of some jerk named Vic. The red banded ninja couldn't believe he'd let that greasy weasels insults get to him like it had. Or that after he'd run off to go yell at the guy when they tried to talk the balding moron into giving up the video, that Leo sent him back to the lair.

Like he was some kind of little kid getting put in a time out! What the heck was up with that?! Ranting to Spike only helped so much. Jenny hadn't had much time to talk since she had to help her brother with homework, when Raph had called her from the junky payphone they had.

Jen had given him hers and April's numbers in case anything happened, and to make meeting up to hang out with him and his bros easier to manage. Mikey and Leo liked hanging out with the redhead too.

And every once in a while tagged along if they knew Raph was going to hang with her. Mostly to get some peace and quiet from Donnie's noisy tinkering in his lab. They were sure that if Master Splinter had a choice in the matter, that he would've probably gone with them.

He and Jen had a bit of tension between them since the whole incident where he met her pumpkin haired friend, who he learned was called Malakaia. She didn't like him badmouthing her friend when Kaia had only been trying to help.

And he didn't like her sticking up for the other for having butted into his business. Which almost led them into an argument about how Jenny thought Kaia was right, but then the redhead held up her hand and took a breath before saying they just shouldn't talk about it since it wasn't going to do any good.

Raph had almost argued on that point, but then Jenny gave him a warning look that kind of reminded him of Master Splinter, and as he sorta unconsciously saw her as a big sister type, he felt his anger quelled by the look and gave a scowl as he rubbed the back of his head and begrudgingly agreed to leave the subject alone.

After being sent back to the lair however, Master Splinter had been the one to rekindle the point Kaia had been trying to get across, by telling Raph a story about his own past involving a man named Oroku Saki; a rival turned enemy.

Of course Splinter didn't tell his son about Haruhi and all the details that led up to the actual reasons why he and Saki had become enemies. But, Splinter figured he'd gotten his point across without having to bring up the painful memories of his beloved Haru-chan that he'd been trying so hard not to dwell on.

But Raphael understood enough to manage his temper and save his brothers when the mutated jerk was trying to kill them. He'd felt pretty good when he was able to just tune the guy out like he had and was then able to defeat him.

So good in fact, that the usually cranky turtle felt like finding that Kaia girl and rubbing it in her face about just how awesomely he'd overcome his so-called _problem_, and how it hadn't even been big enough to be a problem. Heh, yeah!

Speaking of the devilish damsel, she was currently out and about to run a few errands. She'd just gotten off of work at the comic book store and was rather glad for it too.

Ever since Danny had made friends with one of the turtles named Mikey, he'd been talking her ear off about it. The ash-brunet was a great guy, and an even greater friend, don't get her wrong…

But the sickeningly sweet way the other gushed over the orange banded ninjas cuteness was going to give her diabetes if he kept it up. It was obvious to her that her friend was excited to have a new friend.

It was also apparent that he might like Mikey a bit more than a friend; whether he realized this or not. Kaia found it somewhat amusing when he didn't become annoying with it, and for the most part kept her theories of such to herself for the time being.

Not wanting to make her friend feel awkward or over think the situation, as he was just enjoying spending time with the turtle ninja. However, that didn't make her any less happy to be out of the comic shop and away from her chatty teammate.

She had been on her way to go get some grocery shopping done, when a familiar buzzing sound went off in her jacket pocket. Reaching into it to retrieve her phone, did she see a text from Jenny asking if they could meet up.

Figuring she had some time to spare since Marty was at a friends house playing, Kaia told her yeah and asked why. Apparently their "mutual friend" as Jenny put it, which meant the angry turtle, wanted to speak to her for some reason.

With a curious eyebrow raised, Kaia smirked a little and asked where they wanted to meet up with her. If nothing else came of it, she figured she could at least smack the other upside the back of his head for having called her stupid. Ahhh! The wonder that was the silver lining!

It had taken Raph a while to convince Jenny he wanted to find Kaia to talk to her, but the redhead was still skeptical about the whole thing. So rather grumblingly, he agreed when Jen told him she'd set up a meeting between them if she could come along to make sure he didn't try anything funny.

Her and Kaia may not always get along, but they had a lot in common; like enjoying all the cool and destructive inventions she created and being protective of their brothers. So she wasn't about to let anyone mess with her teammate, even if the turtle was going to be a grump about it the whole way.

It didn't make sense to her why he wanted to see her pumpkin haired friend… Unless he was looking for an excuse to pick a fight with her. That made some sense. The idea of him wanting to apologize? Heh, not so much…

When they arrived on some rooftop that was high up enough in case Raph, Kaia or both got a bit too loud if they ended up arguing or something. Jenny wasn't sure, but she wanted to be ready.

They didn't see Kaia there. "So where's your "friend"?" Raph asked derisively; his arms crossed impatiently. He really wanted to rub her face in the fact that she had been wrong about him. But he couldn't do that if she wasn't there.

Jenny frowned; eyes silently surveying around for Kaia as she knew the other liked to randomly pop out all coolly sometimes or just freak others out. A few minutes passed, and still no sign of the orangette.

Raph sighed exasperatedly and flung his hands up in frustration. "Can't you send her a message or something? I'm getting really sick of wai-whah!" But before he could finish what he was saying; a shadowy figure sprang out of the shadows behind Raph and landed a swift kick to the back of his head.

The turtle went flying forward and landed flat on his face. "Wh… What the…?!" He garbled flabbergasted as he spit out a few of the rocks from the roof that got in his mouth when he fell.

"HAH! That's for calling me stupid, you jerk!" Rang the triumphant voice of Kaia from behind him. He turned himself around as he began to push up off of the ground, but paused to see the girl standing there with her hands on hips that were cocked slightly to the side in a sassy fashion and a sharp, toothy grin that was downright devilish.

He gawked up at the pumpkin haired girl; having forgotten how attractive she was until that moment. Raph swallowed hard before giving himself a mental shake and abashedly hurrying to his feet; remembering he was supposed to be mad at her for having kicked him.

"YOU KICKED ME!?" He almost screeched; his fits clenched at his sides. He couldn't believe she'd attached him like that. But she merely cocked an eyebrow; completely unfazed.

"Oh my. Don't tell me we're doing this again. Honestly, I was hoping to knock some sense INTO you, not OUT of you, Grumpy." Kaia replied in a smooth, amused tone to match her smirking grin.

The red banded ninja opened his mouth to retort; holding up his pointer finger as he was ready to tell her off or at least try to, when he remembered why he had come this far to meet the orange-blonde in the first place.

He leaned back to stand upright rather than leaning toward her hostilely as he had been, and took a deep breath while mumbling "Like water… over stone…" to himself. Kaia quirk a curious brow; having fun already but glad things looked to be getting interesting.

"Ahem…! I didn't come here to fight." Raph tried to say as calmly as he could, but Kaia didn't look convinced. "Really? Then what did you come here for, eh Shortie?" Jenny wasn't too approving of the others impish behavior, but knew the orangette was up to something.

She was testing the red banded turtle. Having watched them since they arrived and for the few minutes they were there to see what he would do; she could tell he was antsy. Like he was all eager to do something that just couldn't bode well for either of them.

The cocky girl was just slightly taller than him by about half an inch, and at her comment, he noticed this and it made his eye twitch. Unfortunately he didn't realize the height was mostly due to her shoes, but Kai wasn't gonna tell him.

But he wasn't about give in to her taunts and insults; just like Master Splinter taught him… "I… uh…" Man, this was going to be difficult; the height difference was really bothering him for some odd reason. "I wanted to say that…" His eye twitched again.

It wasn't fair! How was she taller than him?! She was a girl! Boys were supposed to be taller! That's just how things were supposed to be, right? "I'm a pretty patient person and all, but could you hurry it up? I've got places to be." Kaia eyed her fingernails with a bored look that really gnawed on his last nerves.

"Grrr…" No, he wouldn't! He couldn't! But she was so… _'Urgh! Can't… let… her… WIN!' _Raph tried to tell himself over and over. "I JUST CAME TO TELL YOU THAT YOU WERE WRONG AND THAT I DON'T HAVE ANGER ISSUES!" He bellowed with annoyed little flames in his eyes.

A few seconds passed as he huffed and puffed to try and calm himself back down; his fists clenching and unclenching on either side of his sais; the urge to take them out and fight her growing steadily more difficult to resist. _'Well that went great!' _He mentally berated himself sarcastically.

Topaz eyes turned upon him with an unreadable look as she regarded him. Then, she smirked again. "Heh, you know that would be wa-aaay more believable if you hadn't _angrily_ yelled it at me like a little girl who didn't get the dolly she wanted for Christmas, right?" Kaia played silkily.

The red banded ninja opened his mouth but then closed it, then grit his teeth and closed his eyes to try and collect himself. _'Like water over stone… Like water… over stone…' _He chanted mentally; hoping it would help.

But Kaia wanted to see just what he was made of; slowly beginning to walk around him as she spoke in her amused and cocky way like she knew something he didn't. "So you want me to believe you've gone and _miraculously _conquered that _short_ temper of yours, hmm?"

Raph's eyes snapped open to glare daggers at her, but was caught off guard when he saw how she was circling him like a predator. It was a bit freaky and put him on edge; not quite sure how he was supposed to handle when anyone did that, much less a pretty girl who knew how to get under his skin.

Jenny meanwhile, had long since gotten the heck out of the way and was sitting comfortably to watch what was going on as she chatted via text message with her good friend and former boyfriend; the only other person she trusted with her knowledge of the turtles existence.

_Jen-chan: "LoL Oh no. Kaia's circling RT like she's about to have him for dinner. He's SO screwed. I don't get why he's lying like this. You know how I've told you how much she HATES lying. I forget if she can tell by smell or by hearing though…" _

The RT meaning Red Turtle. Her and her friends called them simple abbreviations like that in case their phones ended up in the wrong hands and someone managed to hack them; which was highly unlikely as they were a combination of Jenny's own genius and Utrom technology.

Her own phone resembled an iphone with a protective magenta red case with a cute little chibi styled white bunny charm hanging off of it. The bunny had a pale blue bow around his neck like he was all fancy and stuff.

Kaia's phone cover had a simple dark and light green jungle theme to it. Danny's changed depending on what anime or whatever he was into, but it was currently sporting a cover themed after the "Ninjatown" game with adorable ninja chibis and cuteness all over it that just screamed his taste.

Even Akira's phone case sported a theme. It was a dark blue water image with all different coloring of koi fish and little lily pad-like flowers. Her sister helped her grandfather pick it out so she would look at it and always think of him.

_Usa-kun: "Hahah, I am sure Kaia-san will teach the deceitful cur a lesson he won't soon forget." _Jen couldn't help the small snort of laughter that escaped her at reading her ex's message; knowing what was about to follow. And sure enough, her phone buzzed quickly after that message with an apologetic one.

_Usa-kun: "Not that I think he is a deceitful cur because he is a ninja! But because you told me he was lying. Sincerest apologies dearest Jen-chan." _

_Jen-chan: "It's okay. I knew what you meant, silly wabbit ;3" _And as she continued to converse with him as to what was happening, in-between them having their usual conversation about things, Kaia and Raph continued their own, more violent back and forth.

"Hey you don't know me, okay? So just back off!" He told her gruffly with his arms crossed huffily over his chest as he played the whole "No one understands me" card. He was trying very hard to ignore her, but shifted slowly this way and that as those brilliant green eyes of his followed the orangette; not wanting her to sneak attack him again, or at least that's what he told himself.

"Hm, _purr_haps…" She agreed while suddenly popping up behind his left shoulder to speak in a low, teasing purr that sent a shiver down his spine for reasons that were far from fear. "But that doesn't mean I can't tell that you're lying."

Raph went to turn around quickly; taken aback by how quickly and stealthily she'd maneuvered behind him like that. He hadn't even heard her! But no sooner had she finished speaking was Kaia right back behind him again.

This time right behind his right shoulder. "And I'm _very _good at spotting the lies, _little turtle_." He may not have been able to see her, but he could hear the devilish smirk in her voice as she spoke.

But what caught him by surprise the most was the way it made him feel all pleasantly tingly and warm from the moist little puffs of her hot breath on his skin between his neck and ear (or where a mutant turtles ear is supposed to be).

He whirled around anxiously as he felt his heartbeat increase; on edge from the new and unwelcome yet invigorating sensations he was experiencing, as well as the way she was irritating him and seemed to be enjoying it.

As he turned, he waved his arm to try and swat her away like one would an annoying insect. Kaia easily sidestepped it and watched him with those dazzlingly bright golden eyes.

"C-cut that out! It's creepy!" Raph flustered; not meaning too, but it was hard to keep his cool around this girl. She giggled and it sounded really nice to him despite the situation.

"No promises. But if you really want to show me just how much you've changed, then show me." Kaia offered; taking a few steps back and looking at him expectantly. He blinked. "Uh… show you _how_?" He asked with a curious brow.

"Let's spar. Just you and me. And if you can keep your temper, I'll admit I was wrong. BUT… if you can't… then you admit I was right!" Again that smirk she gave that had him caught between hating her and finding her cute was flashed his way.

"But you're a girl…" Raph said; looking even more confused now. She rolled her eyes. "Oh not this again! Seriously, if you can't take getting beaten by a girl, just say so. But don't demean me or my gender like some asshat." Kaia scolded sharply; her smile gone.

Raph wasn't sure if that was a good thing that she wasn't smiling anymore, but wasn't about to let her get the better of him yet again. "Pfft! Fine then. You think your so tough, bring it! I ain't afraid of yo-urhk!" The red banded ninja ranted; going off at the mouth before getting punched in it.

"Oh! I'm _soooorry! _Were you saying something? I guess I was too busy being _awesome_ to notice." Kaia taunted happily after sucker punching him to get things started. He scowled irately and stepped in to fight back.

And then it was on! Raphael didn't think anyone but Master Splinter could move that dang fast, but whoa! This pumpkin haired brat wasn't half bad… He had yet to get a hit in, and it annoyed him because instead of attacking him with her fists or feet like he was trying to do to her, she mostly used her words.

"Well what do you know, turtles ARE slow, heheh!" She giggled while ducking down to dodge a well aimed kick to the side of her head; grabbing the muscular green leg and using it to throw him. Not hard enough to really hurt him, but enough to get on his nerves.

The longer this went on, the angrier he became. And in truth, it hadn't gone on very long. A few minutes at most. "Aww, whasa mattah? Finding it hard to keep your cool when there isn't a moments peace to collect your thoughts?"

On the word "thoughts" she gave him a bop on the back of his head and giggled mischievously when she heard his growl through gritted teeth and watched him stamp his foot like a petulant child.

"Not as hard as it's gonna be for you to eat solid foods once I get my hands on you!" Raphael yelled as he suddenly pulled his sais and went at her in a rage; having finally lost it and wanting to show her just who was the awesome ninja in this fight.

But this was quite the mistake on his part, as when he let his rage get the better of him as she suspected it would, she easily thwarted his attack. And the next thing the angry turtle knew, he was flat on his shell, his sais knocked from his hands; to where he had no idea.

She had his wrists pinned none too gently above his head while the crafty orangette loomed over him; her legs on either side of his as she pressed one of his own sais against the underside of his chin to let him know any attempt to struggle as he was about to do would prove unwise.

Raphael was disorientated from being pulled from the precipice of his rage filled haze and from how quickly she'd taken him down. There was no longer a smile or smirk upon those delicate, lightly sun kissed features.

Instead, she looked rather stern and displeased with him; those big golden amber eyes were focused intently on him in a regarding way that made him internally squirm and miss the spiritedly impish warrior of a girl from before.

"Don't have a problem, eh? What the hell do you think this is? Some moral lesson from a cartoon, and that you can simply decide on undertaking, and have perfected in a half hour?!" Kaia asked in a smooth, dark tone; her grip on his wrists tightening painfully as the tip of his blade dug in a little more firmly, but not enough to cut just yet.

It was becoming clear to him now that the feisty orangette had a problem with his arrogant and reckless behavior almost as much as Master Splinter seemed to. But something about the way she spoke and the look in her eyes told him there was a painful reason it troubled her so.

"_No_… This sorta thing takes _years_ of tireless training and self-discipline. And _boy _do you have a ways to go." She finished; those smoldering eyes boring into his bright green ones as if looking for something.

The young assassin wanted to see if her words were having any effect on him. They had, whether he'd admit or not. He felt a welling up of guilt and regret for his actions towards both those kid punks he'd beaten so badly and also Kaia.

Had he really let himself become so out of control that he'd hurt some dumb kids like that? Raph very stubbornly hadn't given it a second thought; trying hard to deny that she was in any way right that he'd made himself blind to his own actions.

It seems Kaia and Master Splinter had a point… Maybe he needed to take this whole self-control thing more seriously than he had been. Geez, what would his sensei think if he knew he'd not only fought a girl but really tried to hurt her, and just because she'd made him mad?

He couldn't imagine the man turned rat to be very pleased with the way he had been behaving. It was bad enough his temper had caused so many problems for him earlier with that Spiderbytes creep and his brothers.

"I…" Raph began, but then closed his eyes and turned his head down and to the side in shame. "You… may have had a point." Raph conceded quietly. He heard her make a soft, thoughtful "Hm" sound, before the weight of her body and the sharp weapon at his throat lifted.

Taken aback, he opened his eyes and blinked bemusedly to see she was standing up now and offering him her hand. Cautiously and curiously, he took it and she helped him up. "You know… It may not seem like it, but… I want to help you before it's too late." Kaia told him in a kind, sincere tone he hadn't heard from her.

Nor was he used to hearing. It was… kinda nice and soothing, he thought. Kaia knew it was probably none of her business, but if Raph was going to be involved with her friend, teammate, and unofficial boom happy weapons supplier, she'd have to help straighten him out or else he was going to get served up in his own shell if the grumpy terrapin so much as upset the kind redhead.

"Jen may have told you already, but my name's Malakaia. Or just Kaia if you like." She greeted affably. "I'm Raph… Raphael." He replied a tad gruffly and unsure; though he was trying to be friendly. Seeing the small smile that graced her face made the turtle smile some in return before he thought much of it.

"Cool." Kaia said before seeming to remember something. "Oh! Almost forgot." Her smile widened, before she used the hand still holding his to pull him forward while she leaned in in nonchalantly, and reached behind him to sheath the sai back in its slot.

"Wouldn't want you to be anymore disarmed than I already have you, would we, _Raph_?" She playfully purred in his ear; sending another pleasant chill through him. Her close proximity and the sweet, delicate scent of vanilla and spices that caught his notice as one of her pigtails brushed his cheek, took him further by surprise and caused his face to heat up.

She grinned and giggled as she just as smoothly leaned back and took a few steps back. He stared at her, completely stunned for almost a full minute before shaking himself mentally and scowling at her; though it was clear there was no longer any anger or hate behind it.

"Would you stop doing stuff like that! It's very… uh…" His face grew a shade or two redder as he tried to explain the reason why, but found it a bit too embarrassing. "Never mind! Just… Just stop it, okay?"

But Kaia's eyes became sweet crescents. "Nah uh." She replied childishly. "Wh-what?! Why not?! I'm asking nicely and everything!" He flustered; waving his arms around incredulously.

She leaned forward slightly; making him lean back with wide eyes as he wasn't sure what she was about to do. Then Kaia made a show of inhaling deeply like she was about to give a long and detail explanation, then smirked and said "Because!" before straightening up and laughing lightheartedly when Raph growled in annoyance and shot her a pouting glare at how unfair she was being.

Jenny watched them and just shook her head and smirked as she went back to texting.

_Jen-chan: "Heh, looks like they're getting along. Like we figured. They're too much alike not to, y'know?" _

_Usa-kun: "Agreed. :3 So what shall you do now?" _

_Jen-chan: "Hmm, probably tell them I'm leaving and see who'll follow. I'm betting it's Raph. LoL"_

_Usa-kun: "I do not doubt it. lol Please text me when you get home? I very much like knowing you've returned safely." _

_Jen-chan: "A gentleman as always. ^_^ But okay, since you asked so nicely." _

_Usa-kun: "X3 Thank you."_

And like she said, she stood up and announced she was heading off if they didn't have anything more important to discuss. Raph was more than thankful for the excuse to leave, quickly snatched up his other sai off the ground as he went; still not quite sure what to make of Kaia or how her presence effected him, and wanting to leave before he blushed so much that red replaced the green as his permanent skin tone.

Malakaia laughed at seeing him retreat and waved while bidding them both goodnight. "If you're interested in taking up my offer of assistance, I'm sure Jenny will give you my number, Turtle Boy." She called playfully to him.

He scowled poutingly and did not look back as he pretended to ignore her. But this just made her giggle and for the red banded turtle quicken his pace. Kaia turned around and left to go finish her errand; feeling good about the progress Raph had made and hoping he would try to maintain it at least.

Raph was silent for a few minutes, but when Jenny asked if he was okay, the short-tempered terrapin began ranting about the cocky orangette in a way that showed he was clearly very flustered about Jen's mercurial friend and what had just happened.

But to the redhead, it was apparent Kaia had left quite the impression on him and that the turtle was not only impressed (which even Jen knew was quite a feat) by Kaia, but that he seemed to take a bit of a liking to her in his own hardheaded way.

"I just don't get how someone _so dang cute _could be so… so, irritating!" Raphael shouted in vexation with more flailing arm gestures that Jen tried not to find comical. "So-oooo, you think Kaia's _cute_, huh?" Jenny asked in an impish tone that could've matched Kaia's.

Raph froze; his eyes bugged out as he realized his slip up. He coughed nervously and tried to play dumb. "Wh-what? Pfft! No I don't." He waved her off like she was crazy. Jen rolled her eyes. "You just said "how can someone so dang cute be so irritating". I was right here you know."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Raph said defiantly with his arms now crossed as he turned his head to look away from her. The redhead sighed, but then chuckled deviously; making him eye her like she really had gone crazy.

"Well, if you don't want to admit it, I'm sure I could get Kaia to get the truth out of you. She did a pretty good job earlier." The redhead teased with an evil grin that made the turtle sweatdrop.

"You wouldn't?" He asked with narrowing eyes. "Oh really?" Jen asked; taking out her cell phone and typing up the message and then showing it to him, but keeping it just out of his reach.

His eyes almost popped out of his head and he shot her a harmless glare. "No wonder you two are friends. You're just as evil as she is!" He exclaimed; putting two and two together.

Jenny tried hard not to laugh at that; trying to keep a straight face as she circled her thumb threateningly over the "SEND" button on the screen. "Not sure insulting me is your best move right now, Red."

"Okay, okay! Fine! You win." Raph sighed in defeat when he couldn't get the phone from her because he was too short and she was too quick. He wondered briefly if all girls were so fast.

Jenny looked at him expectantly and he heaved an exasperated groan of a sigh before turning his head to look at anything but her. "She's… cute, okay…? Is that what you wanna hear? Hmm? That I think she's an awesome fighter. That she looks, acts and even freakin' smells like something out of a really good dream? Cuz that's what I think, okay?!" He seemed a bit hysterical as he finished in a madly blushing huff.

Jenny blinked; not having expected a whole love confession of sorts from the other. "Oh… um… Okay." She replied a tad stunned; quickly closing out of the message and putting her phone away as he tried to calm down.

"Sorry Raph… I didn't mean to upset you." The redhead told him apologetically. He gave a huff but muttered out "S'okay… You didn't know." They were both quiet for a bit, as it was apparent he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

After a moment of thinking, she got his mind off of his moodiness and onto the subject of asking how Spike and his family were doing, which led to him telling her about all the freaky stuff that had happened and the new mutant that Mikey named Spiderbytes.

Though they parted on a rather cheerier note after that, Raphael went home with a somewhat better sense of himself and what he was capable of due to his inability to control his anger. His mind replaying over the events of what transpired between the curious orangette and himself, and what she had said.

But most importantly how nice and adorably playful she had been after unleashing some awesomely freaky fighting skills on him. He had no idea a girl could be so crazily complicated like that, and yet so… _captivating_.

As he took off his sais and got ready to go to bed, his face heated up at the memory of how she'd leaned in and whispered all sweet like to him. It made him shudder pleasantly, and he had to mentally berate himself for behaving so stupidly over Kaia, before laying down to try and get some sleep. Which proved a bit more difficult than he thought it would that night…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Finally! LOL That took me longer than I thought it would. XD **

**Heheheeh! If anyone has guessed who Jenny's ex-boyfriend and current good friend is and want to make your guess, then please keep it to yourself or send it to me in a PM. XD You'll have to keep reading to find out if you are right or not though. ;3**


	10. Good Intentions & Devilish Intents

**Disclaimer: Ch 1.**

**Author's Note(s): Before anyone says anything... I know, I'm mad as a hatter and twice as twisted, but I'm cool with that. XD Enjoy!**

**There's gonna be some creepiness in this chapter, XD so you've been warned. A lot of my fics have different types and levels of creepiness though, so it's all good. X3**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"Good Intentions &amp; Devilish Intents"<strong>

Though their friendship was still blossoming, they just seemed to click. Danny had been very much enjoying having another male friend he could hang out with. Sure the girls on his team could be tomboyish, but it wasn't quite the same.

Mikey kind of wanted to tell his family about Danny. At least so he wouldn't have to sneak around anymore to see him. It did make the pit of his stomach feel all queasy having to keep such a secret from those he cared about.

But… how could he broach the subject about having a human friend? He groaned inwardly as it hurt his brain to think so much and so hard about something troubling for too long.

Then, when he was out and about with his brothers, he thought he might have an opportunity to do so by showing them that not all humans were bad like Master Splinter had always said.

And if they saw that, then maybe they could accept Danny! Yes! He was sooooooo smart! Mikey got the idea when they came upon a cute kitten named Mittens and her owner started calling for it.

He figured he could make nice with the guy by returning his cat. And Danny's kitten seemed to like Mikey, so maybe that meant he was good with other animals too!

Unfortunately… that did not go very well. The guy started wigging out and it caused the kitten to attack poor Mikey; which just led to his bros giving him the usual mocking and lecture about how bad and unsafe people were.

Raph gave him grief by saying how people wouldn't understand him, and that his own brothers didn't even understand him. And just as he heaved a heavy sigh, while thinking Danny wouldn't have said such a jerky thing to him, he ended up getting a new idea when he saw a big billboard of some dude named Chris Bradford.

So later on, after they ended up in a fight with some ninjas and some crazy ninja dude in red, Mikey found time to sneak away and visit Danny again. He asked him if the other knew anything about Chris Bradford.

"You… wanna know about Chris? But, _why_?" The ash-brunet asked bemusedly; quite taken aback by the others request seeing as Bradford was a cousin of his by marriage.

They didn't see each other often anymore ever since Chris joined up with some shady dojo and then started a chain of his own, but they did get along being family and all. Even if Dan had grown a bit uncertain about his cousin.

When he was young, Danny used to idolize his cousin to an extent, seeing as he was so good at martial arts; like a hero in a comic book. And Chris used to show him how to do certain moves when they hung out.

But then his older cousin began to change… He seemed more like one of those people who start out nice but are then corrupted by money and power that comes with trying to get famous and then succeeding.

And he wasn't really fun any more after that. The sunny, secret ninja had even heard a few rumors amongst the family during gatherings and such that Chris was in some kind of a gang or tied up in some sort of criminal lifestyle.

It seemed more like juicy gossip since no one had any proof, but Danny couldn't help but get the feeling his cousin had gone all dark side what with how he'd become such an arrogant jerk, and the creepy way he began to behave around the teen.

The overexcited terrapin told him he wanted to meet the guy and become friends, since it was apart of his grand plan to show his brothers that humans could accept them. "Why don't you just introduce them to me?"

Danny couldn't help feeling a little hurt the other hadn't considered him, but Mikey said he'd already thought of that, but didn't want them finding out about Danny or how he'd been sneaking out to see him and that this way, if his plan failed, then no harm done and they could remain friends.

He tried to tell the turtle that his cousin had become a jerk since becoming famous, and tried to warn him that he may not find him as accepting as Danny was and it could all go very, VERY badly.

But nothing he could say would sway Mikey. His mind was made up, and that was that. Besides, Chris Bradford couldn't be all THAT bad, the turtle reasoned; believing, like Danny still tried to, that everyone had good in them.

The kindly young man wasn't sure it was such a good idea, but after getting that sickeningly sweet kicked puppy dog look, his resolve faltered and he ended up most begrudgingly getting Mikey a few magazines about his cousin; having a bad feeling in his gut that he might end up regretting it.

Danny didn't like the idea of such a gentle soul like Michelangelo's getting caught up with a guy like his cousin. He even tried to reason with Mikey some more before surrendering the magazines over to him, by telling him he knew what he was talking about because he and Chris were cousins.

But Mikey reassured him everything would be fine, and that if he was related to Danny, he had to have good in him. It was a very sweet sentiment, but his human (as Mikey secretly took to thinking of him as since they were secret friends and Donnie had April) advised him to be careful, which the little ninja assured him he would.

Though, he couldn't help but worry regardless. And so, seeing as his cousin was in town, the secret Guardian in training went to keep an eye on him; figuring Mikey would show up eventually.

He didn't have long to wait, and almost stepped in to help when he saw Chris attacking his dear little friend. But then he heard Mikey shout that they were friends, and saw how his cousin actually stopped and gave him a friendly welcome.

That was… not quite what he expected from the likes of his cousin. And while, he was glad he wasn't trying to hurt Mikey anymore, he continued to keep an eye on them as best he could.

Danny wasn't able to keep an eye on them all the time as he had work and responsibilities, so he was somewhat surprised when his shady cousin stopped by the comic shop for a visit while he was working. He didn't know Chris knew where he worked, as he had avoided telling him.

The little bell above the door chimed to signal someone had entered. He had left Kaia at the register as he was busy putting up Manga on a shelf, and was currently stretching to reach the high shelf when a large hand slid over the one holding the Asian comic, and put it up for him.

Instinctively and swiftly, he spun around to see who it was who had helped him, as a creepy vibe settled over him from the way the person had slowly caressed his hand in the process.

To his shock, he came face to face, or rather face to chest with his older and much taller cousin Chris Bradford; who was smiling in what the older male thought was a charming way, but Danny found it just made the disturbing feeling he'd gotten a moment ago all the more understandable.

"Hello there, _Daniel_." Chris greeted in a smooth baritone as he gazed down at his younger cousin; taking in how the ash-brunet looked. He hadn't changed much since they last saw each other.

To him, the smaller male seemed to be as adorable and innocent as ever. His smile widened a tad when he saw Danny squirm uncomfortably under his leering gaze, as his cheeks became dusted a pale shade of pink.

Mistaking the others discomfort for shyness as Bradford usually did, and finding the coy boy to be all the more endearing for it. "C-Chris! Hi, um… I-I didn't realize you were back in the city. Weren't y-you supposed to be busy in Japan with something?"

The other being so close and eying him like that was seriously freaking poor Danny out. He tried to back up some and put a little distance between them, but felt his back bump into the shelf and saw the other look amused as he closed in on the smaller male; like a hulking beast upon a tasty morsel.

"I was… But more important business required I return to New York." He replied in a disinterested sort of way. Bradford was just glad to have some time with his _favorite _cousin. At least some good seemed to come out of Master Shredder ordering him back to take care of his turtle problem.

"And what kind of business would that be?" Danny tried after getting a hold of himself and trying to ask in his usual smiling and sunny way, as he clutched a Manga to his chest like it was a life preserver. He felt nervous like he should sucker punch Chris and run away like his pants were on fire.

His cousin had never been one for noticing obvious things, like how he was creeping Danny out it seemed, and apparently still didn't. Chris rested his hand on the bookshelf a hairs breath away from touching the side of Danny's head, while leaning in and down a few inches like some looming hound that cornered a scared little kitten.

"Oh, nothing that'll take too long to finish, I'm sure." The muscular man seemed to be enjoying being close to the other, who obviously did not share his feelings on the matter, but did his best to pretend like everything was fine for the sake of politeness and for many reasons of his own since it wouldn't end very well otherwise.

But when Chris went to reach up and brush back a stray hair that had fallen out of place, Danny blanched inwardly and quickly ducked out from underneath of his cousins clutches and made towards the counter where Kaia was pretending not to watch; relaxed by ready to jump in and help her friend if he needed it.

"Oh, d-did I hear a customer come in?" Was Dan's excuse for ducking away. Chris frowned in disappointment and slight annoyance; the sunny lad had almost made it an art out of getting away from him.

And while it was fun in a way, what with the whole "thrill of the chase" and finding the other to be cute with the way he behaved and reacted, it still bothered the older male sometimes.

He didn't get why his cousin acted that way. Didn't Danny see that he was trying to show him affection? That he was doing his best to be subtle and patient, and not scare the other away because he cared so much?

It wasn't like they were actually related by anything other than one of his cousins marrying into the Astin family. So any advances he made towards Danny shouldn't be met with such reactions. Even if it was strangely pleasing to see the other squirm and blush because it flustered him.

"I didn't hear anything." Chris replied as he turned to follow the ash-brunet as he usually did; like a dog after his owner. Danny shot the orangette a pleading look, and just hoped she wouldn't chose the moment to mess with him instead of help him; being the mischievous assassin he knew her to be and all.

"That was a customer leaving. But you really should stop slacking off with your cousin like that Danny. I'm not working late because you can't balance your personal life and your work life." She chided while peering over the horror comic she had been reading until Chris waltzed in.

"Then why don't you help him instead of sitting on your can, girly?" Bradford shot back with a scowl as he crossed his arms. Unfazed by his act of intimidation, she merely quirked an eyebrow.

"Because I'm minding the register, you Chuck Norris reject." The young woman countered with ease. "Why you little-!" He growled as he made to go right up to her with harmful intent. But Danny quickly got in front of him and placed his hands on his chest; making Chris stop and look down to see what was in his way.

His annoyance melted at seeing it was Danny; who was giving him a pleading look that had him caught in the sunny teens thrall the moment he laid eyes upon him. "H-hey, how about you h-help me instead?" Daniel suggested in that sweet, helpful way of his.

"Me?" The taller male asked bemusedly. Danny nodded. "Yeah! Cuz, uh, you know, you're _so_ much taller than Kaia. Heh, she's too short to reach the top shelf without having to use the step ladder." Inwardly Danny was gritting his teeth with a sweatdrop as he wondered how in the world Kaia thought her remark was helpful.

"Hmm… I suppose I could." Chris rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully; seeming to have forgotten the orange haired girl, who rolled her eyes and went back to reading her comic book.

Kaia could easily take the creep, but she understood the many reasons (like Chris being family) why Danny prevented such. He wasn't protecting Kaia so much as he was his cousin; though the other thought it was the other way around.

"It's okay if you've got more important things to do though. I understand." Danny assured with as genial a smile as he could manage; hoping like heck Chris would think the work beneath him and leave to go bother someone else.

"Hah! Oh come now, Daniel. What kind of guy would I be if I ditched you when you need me?" Chris replied with a light laugh as he shifted so he was beside the other now, and put his arm around the ash-brunets shoulders, while his hand clasped over the slender shoulder.

Danny made a small "Oof!" of surprise as he was nearly knocked over from the unexpected half hug. "N-no, really! I don't want trouble you." He urged as the older male began leading him back over to the shelf near the back of the store; his stomach twisting in knots he was so uncomfortable from Chris' unwanted attention.

"Nonsense! Now, you hand me the ones that go up on the high shelf and we'll go from there." The secret Foot clan henchman told him; in a cheery mood that he had a valid excuse to be around Danny.

"Oh… um, okay. If you're sure…" Danny trailed off; wishing the other would just go away. And so, he would hand the other all the stuff that went on the shelf he had trouble reaching on his own, as it was quite high up; though why he wasn't sure.

His dad had apparently seen it in other comic and book shops and thought it was a good idea for some reason. It was his dads shop and there was never really any arguing with the eccentric man, so Danny just stood on his tip-toes or used the step-up ladder for employees only like Kaia did.

As he bent over to gather up what needed to go up, Danny got the disturbing feeling of eyes upon him. But every time he turned around to hand Chris the Mangas, the man was looking away.

Danny inwardly sighed and did his best to hurry up and get this over with so the other could leave. He missed when they got along like brothers when they were younger, rather than the way Chris treated him now.

_**~Flashback~ **_

The young Astin didn't know it, but Chris had always favored his smaller cousin since they'd first met as adolescents. Danny had been warm and welcoming when they became family via marriage.

Chris wasn't really used to that sort of treatment. His family background wasn't one he was all that proud of, as they were mostly marrying his cousin off to a member of Danny's family since the Astin's were so well off, and the Bradford's were greedy, devious people who managed to make what money they had dishonestly but still tried to find ways to obtain more.

But despite this, Chris tired his best to stay out of such dishonorable dealings and focus on his training in the martial arts to make a name for himself. He was shocked by how supportive Danny was of his dream, and how much the other treated him like he had always been apart of the family.

They became fast friends because of this. The others sunny, sweet nature drawing him in like a moth to a flame, until Bradford eventually began developing feelings that were far more than friendly and familial.

Like most young men, he didn't understand these new feelings and was even disgusted by them. He didn't want his cousin thinking he was weird or gross, and so he tried to distance himself from Danny in the hopes that would help; as the idea of liking another male was supposed to be gross and bad. Or so his closed minded family had instilled in him.

So he left for Japan to focus on his training and put such silly emotions behind him. But his withdrawing Danny from his life only drove the brunet into a dark, angry place while trying to rid himself of the twisted desires he'd developed for his kindhearted cousin.

His rise to fame as a world class martial artist caused him to be sucked into shady dealings due to the corrupting temptress that is wealth and fame. Which eventually led him to the Shredder; a man whom he somehow felt was a kindred spirit and a man worthy of being his sensei.

Chris became his student, and later earned his place as one of the Foot clan leaders top henchmen, and fell into the less than honorable lifestyle he'd tried to avoid getting caught up in with his family.

But unlike his family who were more obvious about it, the Shredder had more tact and knew just how to manipulate Bradford into thinking that placing his loyalties and trust in the Foot clan was wise and that as they were ninja, what they did was honorable.

Eventually Chris' sense of morals became skewed, along with the rest of his mental state; not that it had been all that innocent and adjusted to begin with. When he returned to America to visit for some family reunion, as the Astin's were prone to have at least one a year, Chris ended up with Danny's mother dragging him over to her son so they could catch up.

Danny had only been a cute, short kid when they last saw each other; he was barely becoming a teenager. But before him stood a young man who was so stunningly handsome he was downright pretty.

The sunny youth was more adorable than ever with those big amber brown eyes, slightly spiky fluffy head of ash-brown hair, and wiry, willowy physique. It seemed his little cousin had kept in shape, and whatever he was doing certainly looked damn good on him.

It was a bit tense and awkward at first, seeing as they hadn't seen each other in a while; what with Chris becoming an evil ninja henchman and Danny discovering his powers and training to become a Guardian.

But as usual, Daniel's lightheartedness found a way passed it, and they fell back into their old, friendly ways like Chris had never left. And though it was clear Chris had changed, Danny was happy to see him again.

Danny had been so proud of his cousin for achieving his dream, and praised him for it as he told him all about how he did his best to follow the others career in the media; adoration and attention which the self-centered older male basked in.

He couldn't believe Danny had continued to keep track of him like that, even after having left like he had. The young Astin was always so forgiving though, and hadn't considered it was something related to him that was the cause for Chris' leaving.

Danny figured maybe it was something Bradford's family had done, as that was usually the cause of the dark brunets angst. Had the secret Guardian in training known his cousin was up to no good in Japan and what had led him to it, he wouldn't have been too pleased…

And for the sake of rekindling their familial friendship at least, since he didn't want to scare the other away with his feelings, Chris kept his mouth shut and tried to behave around Danny like they used to. But it proved increasingly difficult as time went on.

Most particularly when Chris had come over to have dinner with Danny and his family one night, and been introduced to a young man named Adam; a kid Dan went to school with, whom he was also _dating._

Chris had been blown away at this, and furthermore when his cousin sweetly tried to explain that he was bisexual and even apologized for not telling the other sooner, but that he had no way to reach him to keep him updated on stuff like that.

Apparently it hadn't been all that easy for Danny to accept and he'd gone through a bit of internal turmoil and even occasional mocking and shunning from people he used to be friends with at his school, but had found a friend in a girl named Kaia who had helped him through it.

Then he met Adam, and the two started dating. When Chris was stunned into silence, Dan smiled sadly and said he understood if the other didn't want to be around him anymore. Which snapped the older male out if it, as he told him he just needed time to digest it all.

The ash-brunet was happy that Chris had taken it better than he thought he might; what with the way the Bradford family was with their close-minded views compared to his own parents who were thankfully supportive, he didn't know how the other might react.

For the rest of dinner that night, Chris secretly watched the couple with bitterness and envy. If he hadn't been so stupid and been there for Danny instead of running away like a coward with his tail between his legs, maybe he'd be the one sitting beside the lovely ash-brunet laughing and exchanging little touches and light pecks here and there oh so freakin' happily.

The henchman did his best to try and be happy for the other, but all he could feel was venom for the Adam brat. He wanted him as far away from _his_ cousin, and as soon as possible. Before the little whelp did anything besides kissing.

He waited until one afternoon when the Adam twit was leaving school, and stealthily followed him home. Chris waited until they reached a nice place that would have the fewest chances of them being seen, and snatched the kid right into the shadows of the alleyway he passed by.

Quickly incapacitating the brat, Chris spirited the teen away into the night. It was all so easy for him, as he was a skilled ninja. And even easier than he thought it would be to take the waste of space to a more private location to show him what happened to morons who were dumb enough to touch what rightfully belonged to _him_.

Afterwards, he disposed of the body after making sure it wouldn't be traced back to him and waited to see what would happen next. At first Danny was confused when Adam didn't answer his calls or texts, but then he began to worry when Adam's parents said he hadn't come home.

When it was obvious their son was missing, they at first blamed Danny; saying that maybe if their son had been "normal", he wouldn't have been stolen from them, which even Chris thought was uncalled for.

When it became apparent that Adam wasn't going to be found, they tried to apologize, but Danny's parents told them to leave their son alone and only relayed their message.

The ash-brunet had been depressed at thinking he had upset Adam and the other didn't want anything to do with him when it all started out. But then realized something bad had befallen his boyfriend, and depression turned to worry.

He and Kaia searched as best they could, as the pumpkin haired assassin knew where to look for dead bodies; having hidden enough of them herself when the job called for it and was getting the hang of using her powers to find people like a bloodhound. But they hadn't found anything. The trail had long since gone cold.

Danny took solace in his three friends and teammates, and Chris was rather upset by this, until he went to go visit the other and upon inquiring why his dear cousin looked so sad, did he find himself delightfully surprised when the adorable adolescent hugged him and all but broke down.

If the others parents hadn't been there to spoil things, Chris might've been able to make his move and _properly_ comfort the other the way he'd been fantasizing about since the idea to get rid of the so-called "boyfriend" popped into his twisted mind.

It didn't help either that Danny seemed to have so many "fan girls" where he went to school because of how smart, kind, handsome and talented he was. They visited and called a lot as soon as they knew Adam was missing; most out of genuine sadness for him, but some, like Chris, thinking they could get him for themselves.

Sure, Chris was a famous martial artist and something of a celebrity himself, and yes women and even a few men threw themselves at him in a similar fashion; though being more forward in what they wanted from him than silly school girls.

But that didn't mean he liked it any more that Danny seemed to naturally be popular amongst the female student body, or that his three closest friends were all attractive young girls around his age.

However, since Daniel clearly had no interest in them when Chris remarked politely on it, and that the incident had gotten Danny to spend more time with him because one of them suggested maybe spending time with his family might help, Chris thought they could live… for now.

Even so, he was at least satisfied that the now ex-boyfriends demise had brought him and Danny closer in a way. But it wasn't quite the closeness he had been hoping for. So now that the other was single, Chris began subtly trying to woo him (if that's what you could call that psychotic crap).

Unfortunately, Danny thought his cousins sudden change in behavior towards him was a bit unsettling and increasingly creepy, and didn't respond to the unwanted attention like Chris wanted him to.

There wasn't much time he could spend on his dark endeavors however, as his work for the Shredder and his own fame kept him busy and traveling for long periods at a time (luckily for Danny). So imagine how he felt when he returned to visit his favorite cousin to find he was no longer single.

Much to the older ninjas chagrin, the ash-brunet began dating again a good long while after Adam's mysterious disappearance. Danny hadn't meant for it to happen, but he ended up hitting it off with a cute skater chick.

They'd met at the local skater hang out that he liked going to when he felt like skateboarding, when drawing didn't take his mind off of his troubles, and mostly just to have fun.

The fellow skaters name was Jane, and she was a really sweet and lovely Australian girl whose family came to New York for her dads job. Chris supposed it was easy to see why Danny liked her. But that just made him despise the wench even more.

And again, the gruesome gears in his mind began turning again with how he might best get rid of this new "obstacle". A while after he started dating Jane, and had still been trying to figure out what had happened to Adam, Danny began to catch bits and pieces of rumors going on about his cousin.

Stuff like Chris was just as lowdown as those no good parents of his and that he was involved in some less than reputable behavior with people in Japan and even New York. Though he couldn't believe his cousin could have anything to do with that sort of thing, he began to grow suspicious when Jane miraculously vanished without a trace; just like Adam had.

And as Kaia had so repeatedly and bluntly pointed out, all within the span of time Chris had been in New York and learned that Danny was dating someone. But he had to admit… his cousin had become a rather arrogant jerk with the way he saw Chris treat other people.

Some of it shone through when the dark brunet was behaving oddly towards him. At first Danny thought it might just be in his head, but as time passed, the hugs became less nice and brotherly like they had been when they were kids, and now gave off more of a possessive vibe and lasted a lot longer than they probably should have for someone who was supposed to be his cousin.

Then there came the random touches and excuses for them; like Danny had something in his hair or on him, or some part of his outfit looked like it needed straightening. Or even Chris spilling something on him accidentally (or so the other had claimed).

Or saying he had something on his face when they were having dinner with his parents, so he could clean it off of him with a napkin or washcloth. And the way Chris' hands would… _linger_ when he did so…

It was because of these things that Danny began to feel on edge and avoid being alone with the other. A thought nagged strongly in the forefront in the teenagers mind that being alone with Chris would not bode well for him, so he always made sure he was around a friend like Kaia or his parents.

Either that or he made certain they were in public. And if that little alert in his head began going off, Danny hightailed it out of there with some excuse; whether it sounded good or not. It was times like those he was happy he could teleport, so long as he made sure no one was looking.

He didn't think anyone would believe him and say he was just being paranoid or stupid if he told them he thought his cousin may have had something to do with the disappearances of his two ex's, and could possibly be hitting on him; as Kaia so bluntly put it.

But Kaia noticed since she hung out with him the most, and eventually came to work with him at the comic shop. And though she made it clear she was there for him if he needed her help, someone to talk to, or someone to help him hide the body should things between him and Chris get to that point, she was kind enough to try and stay out of it if it could be avoided.

She knew Danny didn't like feeling as though he was being a burden on others and so he tried to handle everything himself, and for the most part kept things bottled up. The lad was kind to a fault, but sometimes he could be real dense, Kaia noted to herself.

The orangette figured her friend thought that if he kept up his game of avoidance that maybe it would all blow over or that Chris would get the message. She knew Danny cared about the Bradford doofus as he had been like a big brother to him and such, even if the older male was up to no good.

Sooner or later though… Danny was going to have to learn that you couldn't help or save everyone. Especially when they didn't seem to want to be saved. And it seemed the way he was going, Kaia mused sadly, he was going to learn the hard way. She just hoped she'd be there to protect the hopeful hero.

_**~End Flashback~ **_

"Dude… you're cousin's a total dog…" Kaia remarked disgustedly; her nose wrinkled as she made a face. Chris had long since left to go do whatever it was he did; leaving Danny take a moment to try and mentally shake the creepy feeling away when Kaia started talking.

"Did you see the way he was looking at you? Ugk! Gag a maggot, man!" The orangette continued with a shudder; going over to see if he was okay. Danny grimaced as he knew exactly what she was talking about.

Almost the whole time Chris had been helping him, the man had been ogling him from behind every time he bent over to pick up more Manga or comics. It had been _beyond_ uncomfortable for the young man, and he was surprised he hadn't screamed at one point.

But it wasn't like he had any real proof of what Chris was doing or what he was thinking, nor did the young man think he wanted to know. Besides, a lot of people stared at Danny like that, so he hadn't even noticed it until the orangette brought it to his attention one day.

And ever since, he began to pay attention. It was like some kind of mirror shattering in his mind. He still didn't want to believe Chris looked at him _in_ _that way_, but even a blind man could see he was.

Dan didn't answer and instead just leaned forward and bunked his head against the volumes on the shelf and closed his eyes. "I don't get why you put up with him." Kaia remarked beside him; frowning and feeling empathetic, as she had her own demons in her family that plagued her.

"Heh… You know for someone who doesn't like lies, that's a pretty bad one, Kaia." Danny countered; his sunny humor beginning to return. Being around Chris was like being followed around by a handsy rain cloud like the ones you see on cartoons.

She laughed, and it helped lighten the mood. They chatted a bit about how messed up his cousin was and a few remarks were made about her dad (mostly by her). But the humor sort of left when he remembered that Mikey wanted to try and befriend his psychotic cousin.

He held his face in his hands as he sat at the counter. "I should've just told him the real reasons why I didn't want him being friends with Chris…" Kaia scoffed and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed as she regarded the other.

"And what? Told him how he's into some shady, messed up crap like making whoever you date or seem interested in disappear? And that you figured all this out because you're secretly a ninja working for aliens? O-oooh _yeah_, that would've gone over _smo-ooooothly!" _She remarked derisively.

He knew she was right. First of all, he had no proof. Secondly, even if he did, there was no way of showing it to Mikey without his secret life as a Guardian in training coming up.

And thirdly, even if he found some other way to persuade the cheery turtle otherwise, he doubted it would work. Mikey usually just did what he wanted to do, and would've undoubtedly found out about Chris some other way.

"At least he came to you about it. Now you know, and if you just try to keep quiet about it, he'll see for himself that you were right in saying he's a jerk, and hopefully that'll be that!" The none too stable young woman offered; trying to cheer the other up as he just wasn't right when he wasn't his usual sunny self.

Danny heaved a heavy sigh as his hands fell to his sides. "I guess… I just have a bad feeling it isn't going to be as simple as that." The young man composed himself with a look of newfound determination on his face.

"But damn it if I'm just going to sit around and mope about it." He said; more to himself. "That's the Nightwatcher I know!" Kaia cheered happily. Danny managed to smile.

"If you need help keeping an eye on them, just let me know. Just uh… TRY not to do anything stupid. At least not until I show up." She added with an impish wink; knowing what he meant. "Thanks." And with that settled, they went back to work; with Kaia saying she'd close up so Danny could head out early to keep an eye on his cousin, as that was where Mikey was likely to show up.

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

**Well... all that just happened. LOL XD I know, I have the whole creepy thing going on with Shredder, but the whole "cousin" thing makes this different in my mind. I mean, with my fic written the way it is, I can totally see how a guy like Chris got tangled up in Shredder's web. People like that attract one another like magnets. Though not necessarily in the romantic way in their case. LoL **

**See you next chapter! ;3**


	11. New Friend, Old Enemy

**Disclaimer: Ch 1.**

**Author's Note(s): Based on the episode with the same name, but with my own twist! X3 **

**LoL I love the idea of rivals, and so I like to sprinkle them in here and there to add a little spice to my stories sometimes. X3 Because what is love but not a series of challenges and obstacles we must overcome to achieve and maintain it?**

**Plus it's just fun! X3 The anguish! The passion! The yandere-ness! The sheer creepiness and insanity of it all that is LOVE, in all it's wonderfully warped forms! ~sighs dreamily~ Ooooh how I love it so! Kuwahahahahahah!**

**A special thanks to Shade Penn for all the lovely reviews so far. I look forward to your next one, as always. ;3**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"New Friend, Old Enemy"<strong>

Though he hadn't expected his cousin to be at all nice or give Mikey the time of day, he had to say, the next time the orange banded ninja paid him a visit, Daniel found himself quite taken aback by how jealous and annoyed he felt with the way that Michelangelo kept going on _and on _about Chris; like some kind of overexcited fan boy. It was almost like Mikey had forgotten he and Danny were friends…

How could the turtle like such an egotistical prick? Sure, he was a famous martial artist, but Danny had cool mutant powers and kick ass ninja skills! Which didn't do him much good since he couldn't tell the other about it; as the first rule about being a Guardian in training was not to talk about it or your powers, and blah, blah.

Ugh… He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much that Mikey seemed so fond of his creepy cousin, when the cheery terrapin had the usually sunny ash-brunet as his friend. Maybe if he knew the truth about Danny… No. He couldn't tell him.

That would be stupid and get them both in all kinds of trouble. And he didn't want to see anything happen to the other. Mikey was such a sweetheart… even if he did blather on irksomely about his asshat cousin…

Still… all the thanks and hugs the other gave him in return for the magazines and such was rather worth it, Daniel supposed. Mikey on the other hand didn't get why the cute ash-brunet was so worried about him.

Danny was awesome, and his cousin seemed pretty awesome too. He couldn't help but get a little star struck seeing as the guy was famous and all, and had accepted his friend request on that MyFace site.

They even went and ate pizza together like he and Danny did. Although, his fellow teenager never minded any rats or pigeons that happened by, like Chris seemed to. And Dan-tastic seemed happier about eating pizza on rooftops or billboards or wherever Mikey wanted to go to view the city and stuff, than Rad-Brad did too.

Mikey loved sitting up some place high or just up on the roof of Danny's apartment building/comic shop to eat pizza with him and chill, as they enjoyed conversation and the view, and cool friend stuff like that.

It was how he ended up dubbing any pizza they ate on the roof as "Roof Pizza", and why it was one of his favorite kinds. Just something about eating outside with good company and atmosphere made it taste so much better! But it wasn't really the same with Danny's cousin… it just, wasn't as much fun…

Hmm… maybe he was just being a bit critical. Danny was a pretty great guy to him. So it probably wasn't fair to compare others to his friend like that. Perhaps he and Chris just needed to hang out some more.

After all, he'd been friends with Danny for over a month or so. And it took longer for some people to open up or whatever. How lucky for Bradford that Mikey was so understanding like that. Heheh, yeah.

Danny also didn't constantly pressure him with questions either. He respected his privacy and would kindly back off when Mikey said he couldn't answer that or whatever. He and his sunny human had a comfortable understanding that some things were meant to stay secret. And so if the other couldn't answer a question for the same reason, Mikey did his best not to pry either. Even if he REALLY wanted to…

Chris on the other hand, bombarded him with questions. And it kind of bugged him how whenever he tried to change the subject to something more interesting, that Chris always brought it back to stuff he clearly didn't want to or couldn't talk about.

Dan was also WAY better at sharing things too. Rad-Brad didn't like it when Mikey went to play with some old katana he had up on a shelf. The sunny brunet only ever asked that Mikey do his best to take care of his stuff, or to just be careful so the turtle wouldn't get hurt.

Which was more reasonable, since he was kind enough to give Mikey a chance and let him mess with his stuff at all, when even his own brothers and sensei thought he would just wreck it.

Luckily for Mikey, Danny was still keeping an eye on his cousin; putting off going out on non-Utrom related patrols with Kaia just to make sure Chris wasn't up to something.

He would've included her more, but he figured she could use the spare time to spend it with her little brother. And as he waited and waited, that was when he saw his cousin with a well-known delinquent, known as Xever.

He remembered Akira mentioning how the jerk liked to show up to bother her and her grandfather. And so he asked Savage if she'd ever heard of the guy, what with her knowing a lot about stuff since she and most of her family were in the business of badassery, as well as having beaten up enough lowlifes like the Purple Dragons. She told him what little she knew, and so Danny (and the rest of his team) knew enough to recognize the slippery scoundrel when he saw him.

He listened in on what they were chatting about, and to his horror, found out that it was about Michelangelo. Apparently they had set some kind of trap for the trusting terrapin. But without having a way to contact his green friend, Danny couldn't warn him.

By now he had figured out that Mikey had access to the internet, and had friended him on MyFace. But by the time he went to send the other a message, he knew it would be no use since Mikey wasn't even online.

Dan tried calling Jenny to ask for her help on the matter, but she said during some scuffle in the kitchen the other morning during breakfast, Raph and Mikey's roughhousing ended with the payphone they used and a few other things getting busted and Donnie was still fixing it; or so Raph had relayed to her after they met to hang out, when she tried calling and no one picked up.

And sadly they had no idea where the turtles lived from having tried to respect their privacy and all that. Ugh… it was so frustrating sometimes…! Jenny told him she would figure something out and to hold tight while she called April.

After hanging up with Danny, she immediately dialed the ginger girls number and told her that she had it on good authority that Mikey was in trouble and was about to walk into a really bad trap.

April agreed to go get the turtles for her, since she knew Jenny wasn't yet allowed to know where they lived and wasn't about to be the one to tick off four mutant turtles and their rat master, who all had wicked ninja skills.

The ginger haired girl arrived just as the three turtles were heading out to go rescue Mikey; having figured out he was in trouble from what Splinter had said about the move Mikey showed them belonging to the Shredder.

She was exhausted and out of breath from having run almost the entire way there through a sewer. "April! What's wrong?!" Donnie asked in a panic at seeing the damsel in distress.

"M-Mikey… in… danger… help!" She panted out as she leaned against the doorway of the entrance to their dojo with one hand and clutched at her side with the other. Ugh, she felt like she was about to throw up. "How do you know that?!" Leo inquired in bemused surprise.

April held up a hand for a moment. "Jenny… told me." She managed; finally catching her breath. The brothers exchanged curious looks. Donnie frowned; getting a suspicious feeling about that redhead and thinking he'd been right not to be so trusting towards her like his brothers had.

"We'll talk more about this later. Did she say where Mikey was?" Leo said; the first of what he said being directed at Donnie, as he noticed the look the brainy turtle had. Jenny had been nothing but helpful to them so far, just as April had been.

Leo and Raph both wanted to give the redhead the benefit of the doubt and chance to explain before deciding what to do. As quickly as she could, April told them where Mikey was said to be, and they took off to find him.

April stayed behind with Master Splinter to find out what had happened; and also because she needed a rest. But as all of this was going on with the turtles, quite a lot had transpired with our favorite cheery turtle and his sunny human…

Inwardly Danny sighed; knowing he'd just have to wait and figure out something before Mikey ended up getting hurt or worse… After a while, he spotted his favorite turtle, and hurried to cut him off at the pass as the other was ducking around the streets. He knew Kaia said to keep quiet, but his green friends like was at risk… He had to do something.

"Mikey! Am I glad to see you!" Danny exclaimed a tad breathily, as he tried to keep cool and he pretend to be a regular normal human who was so easily winded. "Danny? What're you doin' here?" Mikey gave the other a bewildered look.

Danny took him by the arm and began leading him away back down an alley. "Mikey, you can't meet up with Chris. It's a trap!" At the raised eyebrow and skeptical laugh, Danny rolled his eyes and continued. Wondering why Mikey didn't believe him.

"I overheard him talking to some shady looking guy. _Please_! You have to trust me and go home!" The human heeded urgently; his insides writhing with worry for the turtle and anger towards his conceited cousin.

"Say whaaaah? Oh c'mon Danny. I'm sure you're just overreacting. I'll be fine!" He gave the worrywart of a human a wave of his hand, before pulling his hand out of the others grip while turning back and heading towards Bradford's place.

"B-but Mikey!" He tried; feeling frustrated the other wouldn't listen. "I said chill out dude. You just wait and see. I bet it's all one biiiiiiig misunderstanding." And with that, the turtle melted into the shadows and hurried away before the other could stop him.

With a growl of agitation, Danny followed stealthily behind, and went back up to his perch on the roof to see what would happen. Sure enough, Mikey ended up getting captured and realizing his _real friend _was right, and that Bradford was not only a complete jerk, but also the evil ninja in red from that fight Mikey and his bros had the other night.

He waited until Chris and Xever finished tying Mikey up and left the room. Then, he snuck in the front entrance, as it made more sense to if he got caught, and crept over to where the turtle was bound. "Danny?!" He whispered in surprise.

"Shhh!" Danny warned as he held a finger to the others lips; leaning down to where the others ear would be so only he could hear what he had to say. "_Whatever_ happens, pretend you don't know me and be quiet. It'll protect us both if you do. Ok?" The turtle gave a stern nod at the serious instructions, even though his beautiful baby blues were full of fear and uncertainty.

"That's my brave ninja." Danny soothed sweetly as he gave the others arm a small pat, before going to work trying to free him; but sadly he wasn't very good with knots and had nothing to cut it with. And he couldn't use his powers.

He only noticed that stupid sword his cousin kept to brag about stuck in the ground nearby. Quickly fetching it, Danny had just been about to use it to cut the rope, when a swift kick to the small of his back knocked the secret ninja off his feet.

"Danny?!" Bradford exclaimed in shock as the ash-brunet caught himself and turned around to face him with a stern and very disappointed look on his face. "What the hell are you doing here?" Chris demanded; having come back with a few Foot Ninjas to keep an eye on the prisoner.

"I came to visit you like you said I could the other day when you stopped by my shop. And since I can never seem to get a hold of you to ask, I figured I'd drop. But when I got here, I saw this poor creature beaten and bound, and thought maybe he was a student or a friend of yours." The ash-brown haired teen lied in a humorless tone Mikey had never heard before.

He didn't think it suited the bright brunet at all… It only served to make him feel lousier for not having listened to him before. And now he had upset the other and was making him lie to family and even risk his life.

Wait… Danny… WAS risking his life… for _him_! If the situation hadn't been so messed up, he would've been more touched by the awesomeness of that. "Hah! This freak is no friend of mine!" Chris scoffed as he turned his nose up at the turtle.

Danny's grip tightened painfully around the handle of the katana at the way the other spoke so harshly of his friend. "He's a dangerous thief. I caught him trying to steal that very sword from me." Bradford lied briskly.

"He doesn't look like the type." The teen countered as his eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course not! When do they ever?" His cousin argued. Chris was pleased the other had come to see him.

But at the same time, he was irked because it was quite possibly the worst time Danny could've picked to drop by. He needed to get him out of the dojo before Xever tried anything. Because knowing him, he would.

"You and I both know you're lying. You're probably just picking on him because he's different. So why don't you just let him go, Chris?" Dan tried to reason; hoping for once the other would do the right thing.

"Oh please! You need to go home, Daniel. This has nothing to do with you." Chris made to move toward him and take the weapon from his hands, but Danny moved to stand between him and Mikey in a defensive stance.

Sure, he was better with a bo staff or daggers, but it was just like using a sharp staff, right? How hard could it be…? "I can't let you hurt an innocent. _Please_, Chris… Just let him go." Danny pleaded with those glassy hazel orbs of his.

Chris froze for a moment, as his conscience gnawed at him. Danny was the only one who ever reminded him he was supposed to have one. But he had a duty to the Shredder, not his animal loving, wannabe hero cousin.

As much as he wished he had an actual choice in the matter and knew he would've probably chosen Daniel if he had, he had sworn loyalty to Master Shredder. And there was no changing that.

They each had their own honor they needed to uphold, and Danny needed to understand that. "Can't do that, Danny. So you're either gonna have to defeat me, or go home." Chris told the younger human as he took up his own stance; hoping he wouldn't have to hurt the other to make him listen.

Mikey did his best to stay quiet; biting his lower lip, as he watched with concern and growing anxiety, as the sunny teen bravely defended him against a member of his own family.

"I see… Sorry cousin." Danny sighed sorrowfully as he made to put down the sword; causing his cousin to think he was going to give up. Then, while the others guard was down, he quickly dashed in and knocked him upside the side of his head with the dull side of the sword; wanting to kick his ass but not kill him.

After the first strike, the two cousins ended up fighting, and Mikey looked on in awe to see that Danny had some badass moves! Chris managed to knock the sword out of the others hand at some point, but the younger was better off for it now as they were on hand to hand combat.

The tied up turtle wanted to cheer Danny on, but remembered if he slipped up and let on that they knew each other, that it could end very badly for them. And even if Mikey did manage to walk away from this, the bad guys would be after his friend…

He couldn't let that happen, and for once in his life, did his best to keep his mouth shut. Chris was shocked to find himself losing to his little cousin, even with the help of the Foot ninjas he had brought with him; who were the first to go down. The evil ninja wondered how in the hell the little shut-in of an adorable comic book geek could possibly be beating a martial arts superstar like himself!

But then, Danny dealt a blow to the others jaw that knocked him down. Bradford lay on the ground, flat on his back groaning as he tried and failed to get up. Using this time to his advantage, Danny quickly grabbed the sword off the floor and hurried over to cut Mikey free.

"You're gonna be okay. Just stay quiet." Danny assured; sounding a little out of breath as he hastily sawed at the ropes. The turtle just stared up at him gratefully and gave a nod. His cousin had put up a heck of a fight. Danny would have to train harder after this if he was ever going to ensure a quicker victory next time…

No sooner had he almost gotten the turtle untied, when suddenly Danny's hands ceased their movement as a sharp pain shot through his side. His eyes widened and his body lurched forward like he was going to throw up. Then his mouth opened and blood spurted out across the floor in front of him.

Mikey's eyes bugged out as dark red spread across the right side of Danny's white T-shirt, and the smell of blood filled the air. He wanted to say the others name, to ask him if he was okay, but then, a long leg swept around and struck the ash-brunets chest hard enough to send him flying backwards across the room like a rag doll!

The teen hit the wall with enough force to stun him and make him see spots when his head had been the first to impact with the wall. Danny already had the wind knocked out of him with that kick, and now his ribs and side were both sore as hell.

It felt like one of his ribs might be fractured or worse… And with a painful cough that brought up more blood, he couldn't help but confirm it was probably broken, as he could feel that it was poking oh so rudely into one of his lungs.

Danny had been busy trying to get the other free and was bent over Mikey, who was on his stomach with all his limbs hogtied behind his back, so neither had been able to see Xever sneak up on them and stab the kindly teen in the side like he had.

"Heh, pathetic." Xever sneered as he stalked over to the wounded teen, with the now crimson stained blade in his hand as it glistened eerily in the moonlight. Danny grasped at his side trying to stop the bleeding and trying to back away from the other.

He managed to scramble to his feet and escape the swipes enough so that he only received a few minor cuts, but wasn't fast enough in his current condition to dodge the swift kicks the man dealt.

Mikey struggled against his bindings but it was no use. And with the way Xever went at his wounded opponent, who was weakened by the increasing loss of blood, Danny soon found himself in a corner.

"You should've just left when you had the chance, boy." The Brazilian cretin taunted as he closed in to finish him, while Danny glared daggers of determination at him; ready to either beat that smug bastard or die trying.

"Xever, no!" Bradford cried out as he yanked the spindly man away from his dear cousin. He'd beat Danny's ass if he had to, but he didn't want to kill him! Apart from his twisted fixation with his cousin, they were still family.

And that protective instinct alone wouldn't allow Chris to let Danny be hurt by anyone if he could help it.. "Get your hands off of me!" Xever growled as he pulled away from the other; angry at having been interrupted.

But then, before the two could get into it, a Foot minion came in and whispered in Chris' ear that the turtles had been spotted close by, and that they were on their way. Bradford told his unwanted partner to go fix the turtles bonds while he dealt with his cousin.

He tried to drag him away, but Danny made a break for it and sucker punched him, before using his last bit of energy to get to Mikey. He made it about three feet from the turtle, when Xever knocked him over the head with the butt of his knife; thus knocking him out cold.

"Bind the wound and tie him to the turtle. If he wants to be with the freak so bad, let him. It'll aid in slowing the turtles down." Xever told the Foot ninja, who went and did as he was told while another helped a barely conscious Bradford regain his composure.

When he regained himself, Chris tried to argue that Danny was coming with him and that he was going to take him to the hospital. Xever's eyes narrowed menacingly, before he smirked smugly.

He told him that if Bradford didn't do as he said and let the kid stay bound to the turtle, that should the mission end up compromised because of his "silly sentimentality" as the thief put it, that he'd make sure Shredder know precisely _why. _

And that he would personally do the honors of gutting his cousin, and making sure Chris was made to watch before it was his turn. Knowing the sneaky bastard would do it the first chance he had if he could, Chris relented and left his cousin alone after binding the wound to make sure it was done right, before retreating to the shadows to hide and await their prey to arrive.

Mikey closed his eyes and turned his head; biting his tongue almost hard enough for it to bleed. Danny ended up with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles bound. They had leaned up against Mikey and connected them by their bound hands.

The orange banded turtle tried to feel around until one of his fingers brushed Danny's and he felt it give a slight twitch. They were being guarded by Foot ninja, and he was afraid to speak to try and wake him up, since they might hurt the poor human more.

Then, his brothers arrived and took the ninja losers out and untied him. He immediately thanked them and set to work untying Danny who looked in bad shape; he was getting paler by the second and it was really freaking Mikey out.

"Whoa, who the heck is that?" Raph asked in a quiet whisper at the blood stained teenager Mikey currently was lifting; holding the other over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Mikey, put him down! We can't take him!" Leo scolded incredulously. But Mikey gave him a determined look. "He tried to save me. I'm NOT leaving him! Please… he's hurt really bad! He needs a doctor or something." The youngest told them; pleading near the end with a tone like he was about to cry.

And he was. Hell, he'd have broken down long ago if it would've helped. But now Danny needed him, and he wasn't going to let him down again! Donnie gave the teen a quick glance over and agreed that he needed urgent medical attention.

Leo sighed and begrudgingly said he could bring him, while Raphael complained they didn't need another human causing them trouble. But as he followed beside his little brother and saw how upset he was and how bloody and beaten the human was, he managed to shut his mouth; feeling bad for having said anything.

Xever and Bradford followed right behind with a group of Foot ninja in the hopes that the turtles would lead them to Hamato Yoshi. However, the terrapins were on to their game and planned a counter trap in the sewer.

Mikey set Danny down to lean against a wall in a nice hidden nook. "Now stay here. You'll be safe until I can come get you." He told the unconscious teen in as assuring a tone as he could; trying to be brave and comforting like Danny had been with him earlier, but his voice quavered as he saw how bad the other had been hurt.

His shirt and part of his jeans were soaked with blood, and it was seeping through the bandages Chris had wrapped around the wound. He had bruises forming and cuts everywhere, and his breathing sounded labored.

It was _all _his fault… if only he hadn't been so stubborn and listened to Danny. None of this would've happened. He took a steadying breath to hold back all the tears threatening to burst out, as he sniffled and wiped away a stray tear.

"I'll be back for you soon. Just hang on, Danny." He tried to say reassuringly, and gave the other a tender pat on his head like his human had done so many times to him. With one last glance, he hurried to help his brothers.

They did their best to make quick work of taking down the Foot morons and flushed Xever and Bradford down the sewer with a blast of raw sewage, before Mikey made them hurry to get Danny medical attention.

Thankfully, the symbiotic suit located within Daniel's body was doing its best to mend him with the help of his powers; as the process took time. He would still need to go to a hospital, but the reason he hadn't died yet was due in a huge part to the suit.

But more fortunately for Danny, Jenny had tracked his cell and found him unconscious in the sewer with Kaia's help, since she could see in the dark without the use of Guardian goggles.

Kaia couldn't believe they just left him there like that, but Jenny said they must have had a good reason; as she fetched the notepad from an inner pocket of her suit she used to scribble notes so such.

After leaving them a note that she'd found him and taken him to a hospital, Jenny and Kaia lifted up their teammate and got him out of there and to the Utrom facility to get medical attention.

Jen knew she'd probably have a lot to explain to the turtles at some point, but all she cared about right now was getting her friend the medical help he needed, and making sure he was okay before thinking about anything else. Hopefully by then she'd have a good enough lie worked out…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Well, there yah have it! X3 Ooooo! Things are heating up with the OC's and the turtles! Secrets ever on the verge of being revealed! DUN DUN DUUUUN! XD **

**See you next chapter! ^.~**


	12. Hear Me Out

**Disclaimer: Ch 1**

**Author's Note(s): Chapter title inspired by the song "Hear Me Out" by Frou Frou. It's a good song and one I've had on repeat while thinking up the title for this chapter. LoL I've mostly been listening to bands like "Panic! at the Disco", "Maroon 5", and whatever else I felt like, as I like all different sorts of music. It all inspires different things. ^_^**

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><p><strong>"Rise of the Guardians (in training)"<strong>

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><p><strong>"Hear Me Out"<strong>

Mikey was in a panic when he didn't see Danny anywhere; only a small puddle of blood staining the spot where the ash-brunet had previously been. But Donnie saw the note Jenny had left them and read it aloud.

The only thing they could do was go back to the lair and wait… April was there, so they asked her to call Jenny and see what the heck was going on. Jen told her that she was at the hospital with Danny and couldn't talk right now, but she'd contact her later when she could.

Mikey had his ear pressed to the other side of the phone beside April's head so he could listen. Out of hysterical concern, he practically begged Jen to tell him if Danny was at least okay.

The redhead bit her bottom lip. "He's alive, Mikey. But he's in surgery right now, so I don't really know what else to tell you…" When she heard the other make a whimpering sound like he might cry, she quickly added "But I promise I'll tell you as soon as I know. Okay?"

"O-okay…" He stuttered a little as he sniffled. All the emotions that he'd been having to choke down because he had to focus on fighting and saving Danny were beginning to come back up and overwhelm him.

Mikey asked if he could borrow April's phone until Jenny phoned him back, and April smiled kindly and told him he could until Donnie fixed the payphone; before the ginger turned to the brainy turtle and told him to get on.

Donnie quickly hopped to it and left for his lab, after giving his little brother a pat on the shoulder. April tried to assure Mikey everything would be okay, but the orange banded turtle didn't want to hear it.

Or for that matter to be around anyone at the moment. He excused himself and went to be alone in his room. Leo tried to go after him, but Master Splinter told them to let Michelangelo be alone. For he obviously needed to be right now.

Mikey set April's phone carefully on the pillow beside his head, where he laid down to stare at it impatiently. After crying his eyes out as quietly as he could, and blaming himself for having been so stupid, the tenderhearted turtle passed out.

Jenny called several hours later after she was allowed to see Danny because he was in a stable enough condition, and told the gentle turtle what was going on. Both knew the worst part was that Mikey couldn't even go see him. So instead of mentioning that point, Jenny was thoughtful enough to tell him she'd keep him updated.

"Hey Jenny?" Mike asked tiredly; his voice a little sore and dry from all the crying he'd done into his pillow. "Yeah Mikey?" The redhead replied in kind. "I was wondering… Do you know Danny?" The question had been on his mind ever since Donnie had read the note. He heard the other sigh softly.

"Yeah, we've been friends for years. Why do you ask?" Jenny had a feeling the question would come up sooner or later. "I was just wondering…" Danny and Jen had been friends for _years_?

Wow… That was a really long time to be friends with a girl. And even he knew Jen was kinda hot. He'd heard Raph mention it to Donnie more than once, before the brainy turtle scoffed like it was a lie or something.

Donnie was too into April to notice things like that Mikey guessed. But still… It kind of bothered him that Jenny and Danny had never mentioned each other to him. He wasn't sure why. It just did.

"How did you find him?" Was the next question. "Well… I guess you could say your brother Donatello isn't the only brainiac you know. I won't bore you with the techno babble…" Jen began; sounding like she really wanted to say it, but refrained out of kindness.

"But after he called and told me you were in trouble, and I had April relay the message to your brothers, I basically I used Danny's cell phone to figure out his location with my own after going to Bradford's dojo and seeing you guys weren't there. If you like, maybe I could show you some time?" She edified politely.

He was glad she didn't drown him with some longwinded jargon he wouldn't understand like Donnie would've. "Thanks… but… I-I don't know if I'd be any good at it…" Mikey replied sounding a tad down on himself.

It reminded Jen a bit of her brother Casey when he felt insecure about his own intelligence. But the redhead knew anyone could learn if they really wanted to. "Well, I doubt that. But you know… I bet Danny would _love_ to show you if you'd be more comfortable with him than me? It's cool if you are. I understand." She told him in an amiably understanding way.

Mikey thought about it for a moment; blushing some at how she emphasized the word "love" and managed to enjoy a spark of happiness from the thought that his sunny human friend would want to teach him. So he agreed, and was a little glad to have something to look forward to.

That is… if Danny still even wanted to be his friend after all that had transpired. The thought of the other not wanting to be his friend anymore, upset him a lot more than the turtle had expected. But it didn't surprise him either.

Mikey was a sweetheart, and besides his brothers he didn't really have anyone he really felt close to. April had to be friends with them because they saved her. He didn't see Jenny that way though since she had helped them save April. But she was really smart, so being self-conscious as he could be, he didn't think she'd find him very good conversation.

He was surprised by how well he, Raph and Leo got along with her though. Unlike Donnie, she didn't rub her intellect in their faces or put them down. She teased them and could play right back, but it was never mean-spirited.

Still… His friendship with Danny was different. Mikey wasn't sure how, but it just felt… special. Yeah, that seemed like the right word he thought. And as he miserably mused about their secret friendship, the terrapin frowned thoughtfully.

"Um… Jenny?" His voice was quieter now, and it made her wonder why. "Yes?" She asked; not having to whisper on her end. "Could… you not tell the others?" He felt bad for asking, it's just… he just wasn't ready for them to know everything just yet. He knew it was probably stupid and selfish, but he couldn't help inquiring.

The question confused her, and she had to ask "Wait… what do you mean, don't tell the others? Don't tell them what? They already know I know Danny in some way. And I'm guessing they probably figured out he has to be involved with you somehow because he risked his life to save you." Or perhaps she was giving the turtles too much credit.

"I, I know… It's just…" He trailed off sadly. "You aren't ready to give up your secret because you're worried you'll have to share him? And that your brothers will find out this whole mess was your fault?" Jenny offered in a sympathetic tone.

"Yea…" Mikey admitted; sounding ashamed for having asked. "Heh… I can understand that. Hmm… How about, if they DO ask, I'll just tell them they have to ask you? That way, you can tell them in your own time." The boom happy boffin offered.

"Really?!" Mikey thought it sounded like a great idea, and made sure to tell her so. She chortled lightly; knowing exactly why Danny thought the orange banded ninja was so sweet. Jen couldn't blame him for doing what he could to save him.

Danny wasn't the only one who liked to do the right thing. She'd have done her best within reason to save Michelangelo too. He was a good friend, and he and Danny didn't deserve what those jerks had done to them.

And so, after discussing it a bit more, they agreed that they'd wait until one of his brothers broached the subject, and have them refer to Mikey rather than bother or blame Jen, since it was obvious to him that she meant well.

That way she wouldn't be troubled with keeping the whole truth from the rest of Mikey's family so much, and Mikey could tell them when he was ready. After that was out of the way, Jen tried to cheer him some more.

She switched the topic to the sunny ash-brunet, and told him how much better Danny was looking, and how it wouldn't be long before he could go home, which made Mikey feel better to know.

They continued to speak of pleasant things like that, before they hung up, and the young ninja turtle curled up to try and go back to sleep; with the hope that things would be better once he got the chance to talk to Danny.

For the next few days, while his brothers celebrated their victory over Shredder's two "top minions", Mikey found he just couldn't get into the spirit what with not being able to see Danny to really know how he was doing.

Jenny's little notifications just wouldn't make him feel all that better until he could see his human again. And April had to take her phone back in case she needed it to call them, as Donnie had finally repaired the payphone.

Don had tried to assure his bro that the wounded human would be fine; though Mikey had yet to admit he knew Danny personally yet. So because of that, and as they still didn't know the whole story of what had occurred, it was no surprise when none of them understood why the youngest was so torn up by what had happened.

His three brothers still needed to talk to Jenny and figure out just what the heck had gone down (besides Shredder's minions). As it seemed the only ones who knew what'd transpired were her and Mikey, and this Danny guy.

They called up Jen and asked if they could meet her to talk, and so she made time to do so; having a good idea about what their choice in subject might be. Akira had trusted her to handle herself though.

But to give the usual signal if she was met with trouble; as Akira had gone with her and hid close by in case her friend needed backup. The three of the turtles met up with Jen in the usual spot she met Raph, but the welcome she received had not been one she expected from her terrapin friends at all. At least not one of them.

As soon as she opened her mouth to greet them, Donnie had launched himself toward her and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, before slamming her none too gently against the metal cover of some roof generator.

"All right, I want the truth about what happ-ah!" Donatello began yelling threateningly, before Jenny grabbed the turtle by his shoulders and kneed him right in the gut; making him double over in pain.

"DAMNIT, I'M A LADY! SO KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF, YOU ASSHAT!" The rather infuriated redhead snapped sharply at the purple banded ninja; taking him and his two brothers completely by surprise and scaring the crap out of Donnie, as none of them had expected such a reaction.

Then again, Raph and Leo hadn't expected Donnie to attack her either. They were supposed to have given her a chance to explain. If there was one thing the young Jones couldn't stand, it was someone putting their hands on her or her brother like that, or in any way that threatened to cause them harm or disrespect.

So out of reflex, she ended up snapping at him the way she had. She was rather in disbelief any of them would've hurt her like that; even if Donatello obviously had some problem with her. Jen had been trying very hard to overlook it and be understanding. But Donnie was beginning to wear on her last freakin' nerve.

"Yeah Donnie! What the heck are you doin'?" Raph exclaimed incredulously as he gave the olive green turtle a smack upside the head as Don stood up with a wobble or two. She brushed herself off idly and shot the other two a glare. "I thought you wanted to talk. Not attack me."

"W-we did! Honest!" Leo tried to smooth the matter over with a sheepishly apologetic smile. He couldn't believe Donnie had attacked a girl like that; much less one who was their friend!

Leo knew his brother wasn't very fond of Jen because he blamed her for April wanting to hang out with the redhead rather than him. But this was getting to be ridiculous and downright dangerous…

It wasn't Jenny's fault Donnie acted like a gushing lunatic and creeped April out. "We're _very_ sorry for that. Aren't we _Donnie_?" He shot the scowling younger brother a warning look, and so Donnie heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah. Very sorry." He conceded unconvincingly as he folded his arms over his chest. Donnie was still suspicious of Jenny and wanted to know what was going on. "Pfft! Whatever, Gap Tooth." She shot back sassily.

"G-Gap Tooth?!" Donnie screeched indignantly with an angry mark on his forehead and steam coming out of his ears anime style. He made to go at her again, but stopped when she looked at him and said "Try it again, and you'll be the one in a hospital, _Gappie._" She threatened most earnestly.

Raph sweat dropped comically as he saw another reason why Jen and Kaia got along so well. They could both be downright _scary_ when they wanted to be. Or so he had learned from his last encounter with the cute and curious orangette after he'd been reckless enough to have attacked the secret assassin.

Donnie gulped and had to admit to himself that at that moment, Jenny was scarier than Raph and April put together. "Now… what is it you wanna talk about, Leo?" Jen said while addressing their leader as she turned toward the blue banded ninja to ignore Donatello.

The brainy turtle bristled at that and huffily pouted. "Uh… well you see, we were wondering… exactly how did you know Mikey was in trouble?" Leo asked almost tentatively. He didn't think they needed anymore hostility if they wanted answers.

Jenny frowned and ran a hand through her bangs. "I'd actually love to tell you… but I'm afraid I promised Mikey that I'd let him tell you when he was ready." She told him with all sincerity; apology in her tone.

"Huh? Why would you do that?" Leo looked baffled. "Yeah, that seems kinda… I dunno… Stupid." Raph added with his usual moody sarcasm. "Because, when you get down to it, it really is_ his _business. So since he's been nothing but nice to me, I respect his privacy enough to say that it's more his place to tell you than mine." The considerate redhead edified; seeming quite firm in her resolve.

"Respect Mikey? Don't make me laugh! No one respects Mikey!" Donnie chimed in skeptically. But Jenny gave him a hard look that made him gulp. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe that's the point?" She asked; as if the answer was obvious.

But when it was clear none of them knew what she was talking about, the redette shook her head and sighed in frustration as she held up her hands in mock surrender. She couldn't believe none of them got it.

"Well… whatever. Believe me, don't believe me. I don't care. The only thing that matters to me is that Mikey's safe and my friend is alive. Beyond that, your opinion means about as much to me as a bacterium does to a mountain." Jenny told the brainy turtle aloofly.

She was getting pretty fed up with the way Donatello was treating her. Like she was some kind of criminal, and that she was guilty until proven innocent, instead of the other way around. And for what crime, she had no idea!

"All I _can _tell you… is that Danny is one of my closest friends and has been for years. He's one of the kindest guys I know, Mikey included. And he didn't deserve what happened to him. But he put his life on the line for _your_ brother. So if you can't respect your own sibling, respect _that_, before you go harassing Mikey for answers. Because what happened is _their_ business. Not yours." The fiery redhead admonished.

"If that's all you guys wanted, then I'm outta here." And with that, she turned away and left before they could stop her; as it was clear she was in no mood to further deal with them. Leaving Donnie stunned by her insult.

He didn't think it would've bothered him, but as the day drew on, it practically nagged at him. And if he was being honest with himself, it made him feel like a bit of a heel for having behaved so rudely earlier. The insecure turtle hoped she wouldn't tell April. Oh no… what if she did?!

Then April would get mad at him, and wouldn't want to hang out with him anymore. And maybe stop coming around the lair altogether! Oh man… He needed to think of a way to make things right between him and the scary redhead, or else he was as good as turtle soup!

Jenny stormily and hastily put distance between herself and the turtles; not wanting to be around any of them right then. Akira joined up with her when it became clear that none of the terrapins were following her friend.

Feeling the presence of the stealthy brunette beside her, Jennifer glanced over to see her friend regarding her with a look of concern. "I'm fine." She lied flatly. Aki frowned slightly, but then moved closer as they walked down the street, and put her hand on the others shoulder to make the redhead stop.

As Jen turned to look at her friend with bemused annoyance, she saw the soft, slightly mischievous smile the other seemed to have developed from having been friends with the young Jones for so long.

"Come, Jen-chan. Let's go find something to blow up." For a moment, the redhead stared at her friend in slight surprise. Then her expression shifted to mirror the others impish one, and she gave a nod.

The two took off to the usual places to find stuff for Jenny to blow up. After getting a marvelously devious idea, they found what they were looking for at Bradford's dojo. It seemed the best place to vent some frustrations.

They made sure no one was there first, and that any security system was off, before Jenny pulled out a bag of rocks she'd collected on the way, and began charging them and tossing them everywhere she could while Aki was the lookout.

Then, the two of them hurried the heck out of there, before Jenny let all of her little glowing bombs go off along with all her current frustration; shouting "GOONGALA!" like her big brother did, just as they went off so the explosions covered up her giddy shouting.

It was really therapeutic, and afterwards the boom happy boffin felt much better. She thanked Akira; glad the brunette knew her so well and put up with her crazy ways. The two of them headed out to Mr. Murakami's restaurant to hang out and grab a bite to eat, as they discussed what had happened with the three turtles.

Akira hadn't been very pleased when that purple banded kappa put his hands on her friend, but Jenny assured her that she'd taken care of that as well as it needed to be. Even if she had been half tempted to make Donnie regret it further. But that wouldn't have helped anyone.

Why couldn't he be more pleasant like his brothers? What the heck was it about her that seemed to upset and offend him so much? She didn't whine and shun him like April did. Even when he got kinda creepy when gushing over the ginger girl like some geeky stalker.

"I told them Danny and I were friends. I figured that was okay, since Mikey would probably tell them anyway." Jen shrugged; taking a sip of her soda and trying not to think about how trying Donatello could be.

"That's fine. So long as they don't know the whole truth." Akira replied; quickly stealing a gyoza dumpling from the redheads plate. "Hey!" Jen pouted as her friend smirked and leaned back so the other couldn't take it back.

Aki quickly shoved it in her mouth and ate it. In retaliation, Jenny picked up a grain of rice, charged it, and flicked it at the dumpling that the brunette had taken from her own plate and was about to eat; causing it to go SPLAT all over her face.

The team leader didn't cry out like most people probably would've, but instead calmly wiped the bits of gyoza off of her face; somehow managing to look elegant and poised about it as she'd been taught to do, while Jenny laughed so hard she was doubled over holding her stomach.

Mr. Murakami may have been blind, but his hearing was very keen. And so when he heard the sound of the quirky duos scuffle in the almost empty eating establishment, as Akira and Jenny began having a food fight, he couldn't help but chortle to himself as he went about his work.

The comical sounds of the girls yelling stuff like "PETTANKO! (Flat-chest)", "SHORTSTACK!", and "GOONGALA!" back and forth being heard above the ruckus they caused. It was a good thing they were the only three in the shop, or someone might've complained.

But once they were all tuckered out, and had food and sauces spattered all over them and their clothes, the two girls looked at each other and then fell out laughing, before thinking it best to clean up their mess. Heh, whoever said "violence never solves anything" clearly never met Akira and her team…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Ugh, FINALLY! LoL It's about time I finally got to give Akira some more time in the fic. XD She'll have a bigger role like my other OC's once I get into the other episodes. Haruhi will also have more appearances (like any other character) when I see it fits the story. Everything in its own time, as they say. X3 **


	13. Worth It

**Disclaimer: Ch 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Another chapter for this fic and my slashy one! Whoo!**

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><p><strong>"Worth It"<strong>

On about the third day, Danny finally woke up, and immediately asked for a laptop or for his cell phone. Kaia had been by his side for the most part, when not going home to end to her little brother or the comic shop, or switching places with Jenny or Akira. So she gave Dan his phone when the doctor said he needed to rest.

He was glad he could count on the cheeky ninja; especially since she didn't pressure him when he gave a vague answer to why he needed it. Kai had a pretty good idea it was to check in to see if Mikey was alive and alright.

Signing on to MyFace, he sent Mikey a message asking if he was okay. A wave of relief washed over both human and turtle, as Mikey read the message, and Danny saw his reply; both now knowing the other really was okay at least.

But while he was happy Danny wasn't dead or worse, he couldn't help feeling horribly for what had happened, as well as how messed up it was that Bradford was evil and trying to use him to get to his family.

Danny did his best to tell the other he shouldn't beat himself up about it, as he was beaten up enough for both of them, but the joke only served to make Mikey feel even worse.

Danny told the turtle he forgave him for not listening, because he understood the orange banded ninja had good intentions. Mikey couldn't believe the other could be so kind as to forgive him after all that had happened. Or that he had risked his life for him like that.

Kaia knew from experience that Danny was a surprisingly selfless guy who would put his life on the line for what he thought was right, those he cared about, and those he thought needed help or to be saved. The ash-brunet may be a bit naive at times, (everyone was at some point or another) but his heart was in the right place.

Mikey was glad to have been using Donnie's laptop in his room, or his brothers would've bugged him about why the heck he'd been crying. The poor turtle felt he didn't deserve to have such a great guy as Danny for a friend… No matter how much the sunny human told him he was wrong.

He finished chatting with Danny, and told him he should get some sleep, because he wanted his friend to get plenty of rest so he'd get better quicker. Afterwards, Michelangelo ended up staring sulkily at Bradford's MyFace page, before Raph came over and talked to him.

Mikey cheered up a lot when Raphael said he deserved way better friends than Bradford, and couldn't help thinking of how he had found such a friend in Danny. And with that, he clicked the "Unfriend" button and laughed his best evil laugh at having gotten some revenge against the evil pinhead. It was odd, but Mikey felt a lot better after that.

As soon as Danny was able to go home; having always hated being in hospitals of any kind, since they could be so fussy and he was in a hurry to see Mikey and make sure he was really okay physically as well as emotionally, he sent the turtle a message that he was home and waited impatiently for the reply.

Kaia had called and told the teacher of his art class that Danny had been in an accident and was recovering in the hospital, so that way he wouldn't get kicked out or in trouble for missing the class. Which he thanked the assassin for.

He hated missing training though, but his sensei Haruhi visited him often to help speed up his healing process with the aid of brunettes sound manipulation powers since he knew the other was eager to get home, and had told him he'd give him extra lessons to make up for it.

Danny sweat dropped and smiled sheepishly, as he wasn't sure whether to be grateful for that or not just yet. Haruhi just smiled and told him he'd be fine and to focus on getting better.

A little ping told him the turtle had replied. Mikey said he would be over when evening came, so Danny went and unlocked the usual window, and then laid down on the couch to wait.

He ended up passing out shortly after due to the pain medication the Utrom doctor still had him on. Mikey entered and was greeted by a mew from Sunny. He leaned down to pet her, before going to find the ash-brunet.

Seeing him on the couch like that made the turtle panic and worry something was wrong. But as soon as he realized the other was just napping, he sighed in relief and did his best to be quiet.

Kneeling down beside the couch to look his human over, Mikey saw the other was just in a simple, comfy outfit. A pair of light grey sweatpants and a plain white cotton shirt.

He could make out the faint traces of where bruises and cuts had almost healed and were fading, through the thin material of the shirt, as well as on the exposed parts of his arms and face.

Seeing them, even though they were fading, made him wince. Mikey knew his human friend had gotten hurt really badly, but he didn't know it was _this _bad… The young turtles expression saddened as he blamed himself for what the other had gone through.

"This should never have happened to you… I'm so sorry Danny." He whispered regretfully as he lowered his head to rest it gingerly over the others chest; closing his eyes tight to try and fight the urge to shed the tears he could feel beginning to form behind his lids.

Mikey flinched in surprise when he felt that familiar warm hand coming to rest on his head to pet it in slow, gentle strokes that helped to ease the sweet little green ninjas emotional anguish.

He had been facing down against the others chest and slowly inhaled the sunny humans comfortingly warm, clean scent. Mike knew it sounded odd, but besides whatever awesome smelling soap he used, Danny smelled like sweet sunshine.

Little did he know it had a lot to do with the humans light based powers. Either way… It was so _soothing_. Mikey gave the others pectoral a soft, unconscious nuzzle and sighed softly, while wishing he could bottle the cheery fragrance and take it to the lair with him to keep forever.

Danny exhaled slowly and basked in how nice it felt to have woken up to the cute turtle practically cuddling him. Mikey wrapped his arms around the others midsection as best he could, as Danny slipped his willowy arms around the turtle.

After about a minute or so, Danny felt something warm and wet against his chest and saw that his friend was crying. He slowly and painfully pushed himself up into a sitting position and cupped the others face in his hands to make Mikey look at him.

"There's no need for that. I'm all better now." His kind human tried to reassure, as his thumb stroked over the smooth green cheek to wipe away a tear. But the tears just kept coming. "I-I know…" Mikey sobbed quietly as he sniffled.

Those amber brown eyes gazed concernedly at the distressed turtle and he felt a painful tug on his heartstrings. Danny hated seeing his friend so distraught like this. He took the other by the hand, and gave the spot in front of him on the couch a pat. Mikey gave him a confused look. "Climb up. It's okay."

The turtle hesitantly did as asked and climbed up onto the couch so he was now sitting in front of the other. Danny wrapped his arms around Mikey's neck and gently pulled until the turtles face was resting on his shoulder, and his arms were comfortably wrapped around the endearing terrapin once more.

"There. Now you can use my shoulder to cry on." Danny told him in good humor as he hugged him; his right hand stroking down the others head to the middle of his shell, and then consolingly repeating the action.

Michelangelo had to admit it was a much more comfortable position, and he felt more secure with the other holding him like that. The tears seemed to be coming in full force now, as his body trembled and he whimpered every now and then; having held in his pain as best he could so as not to worry his brothers and sensei.

But with Danny, it all came tumbling out, and he didn't even mind as much as he normally would have. He hugged the taller teen like he was the only thing keeping him grounded, and sobbed until he no longer could.

All the while as the ash-brunet held and petted him; rocking gently back and forth, while offering soothing little coos and words every now and then that everything was okay and that he was there for him.

When Mikey couldn't cry anymore, he just closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing so he wasn't trembling so badly. That's all it was. Mikey just needed to let it all out, and Danny understood.

He'd felt upset like that before, and seen plenty of people go through it too. Sometimes, you just needed to have a good cry before you could start to move passed whatever it was that was bothering you.

Heck he'd done it in the hospital with Kaia, because he couldn't believe his cousin was really so cruel as to have hurt his friend or himself. He felt betrayed. Like everything they'd been through, and their entire brotherly relationship was just some messed up lie. It was like he never really knew Chris at all…

Danny thought he had, but now… He gave himself a mental shake. The young man didn't want to think about that right now. His friend needed him, and the secret ninja figured he had gotten out all he needed to while recovering at the Utrom facility. Any more could wait until another time.

Once he felt that the other had calmed down enough, Danny pulled away just enough to cup his face again and reached up to pull the others tear soaked mask off. Mikey gave a little noise of protest, but was glad to feel somewhat drier.

For the most part, Danny was pretty well healed. The bandages around his chest were no longer there, as his one broken rib and two fractured ones had healed. And the wound in his side was mended up enough that they were able to take out the stitches before he left; having made him stay, as Haruhi didn't want his student to risk going out and ripping them. He knew how Danny could be at times.

Danny got up and fetched a cool rag, then returned to wash the others face. The turtle had to admit, it was refreshing, and it was such a pleasant thing to be taken care of like that. When Danny was done, he gave the ninja a warm smile and leaned forward to plant a light kiss on the adorable turtles forehead.

When he saw how big the terrapins baby blues were when he pulled away, Danny couldn't help chortling genially. "Sorry. It's just, you looked so _cute_. I couldn't resist." The teen told the turtle in all honesty, with a light blush of his own as he reached up to rub the back of his own neck.

Having been through the emotional wringer with that whole Chris Bradford situation had given Danny a lot to think about, and he couldn't believe his own flesh and blood would've sunk so low as he had to hurt or murder an innocent. Or innocents if you count the rest of Mikey's brothers.

As he was fighting to save his friend, all sorts of familiar and unfamiliar emotions had been roiling within him. All he knew was that he was determined to do all he could to save Michelangelo.

He only wished he hadn't gotten caught off guard by that bastard Xever. If he hadn't, he would've spared Mikey the pain of blaming himself for his injuries. And as he saw how the turtle blushed and seemed all flattered and confused as to what to do, Danny leaned his forehead against the others and just smiled.

"Heh, you're worth _every_ wound, Mikey." Danny told him with all the sincerity in the world, as he nuzzled his nose against the spot where the others was and chortled lightly; the ash-brunets inhibitions less restrained due to the medication he was taking for the pain.

Mikey was at a loss for what to do. He'd just been given a kiss on the forehead by a human guy he found to be awesome _and _attractive, and who had also nearly lost his life in order to save the little ninjas.

And who had just told him he was not only cute, but that he was worth having to deal with the pain he was in… No one had ever told him something as sweet as that, or that he was cute. Normally his brothers teased him by saying how ugly he was.

Everyone else made their snide and rude comments as well. So Michelangelo's self-esteem was pretty low despite how he tried to act as if it didn't bother him. "Are you on drugs or somethin'?" Mikey asked bemusedly; as he thought the other was acting a bit funny.

"Only the pain meds. They might make me a bit goofy, but they don't make my words any less true. You ARE_ cute, _Michelangelo." Danny edified in his usual laidback way as he raised his face to give the other another little peck; this time on his nose.

Mikey was blushing madly as he pulled back to sit up; not quite sure how to handle the way his human was behaving. It was nice and all… Okay, it was _pretty awesome_. But he didn't want to do anything to hurt their friendship if the others judgment was compromised because he wasn't well.

But he mentally kicked himself when he saw how the ash-brunet looked rather crestfallen at the loss of contact and rejection. "Sorry. It's just… you need to heal, and I don't want you to get worse because of me." The turtle reasoned with him; and it was the truth for the most part.

Daniel sighed halfheartedly and laid back down. "If you say so." He felt a little bummed his fun had been cut short, but he supposed the other might not be comfortable with that sort of affection. It was stupid to have done it he guessed…

Danny grabbed the remote off the coffee table and turned on the idiot box. "Does my kissing on you creep you out?" He couldn't help but want to know after a few minutes of strained silence. Mikey considered with a hum and a small frown.

"No. I mean, I'm definitely not used to that sorta thing. But… you're not really in the right mind to be doing… um… what you were doing." Mikey blushed a bit. "And I don't want to end up losing you as a friend." Hmm, well, that was sweet and fair Danny supposed.

He guessed Mikey must still be freaked out about him having gotten hurt. "Okay." There was a small pause. "Soooo… can I kiss you when I'm better?" The sunny human inquired flirtingly, as he grinned playfully up at Mikey; whose blush worsened and found himself smiling too.

"I, uh…" Not able to form the right words, he just gave a small nod and quickly averted his eyes to watch whatever was on. Suddenly finding it difficult to look at his human without feeling all warm and tingly; like his stomach was full of super happy butterflies.

Danny gave a contented little hum of satisfaction; getting quite a happy buzz from the other saying he could kiss him later. "Y'know… I think I'm feeling better already." He joked playfully.

Mikey laughed at that, and when Danny joined in, their usually easygoing happy atmosphere fell back in place; like everything was back to normal, and they had never even heard the name Chris Bradford.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Awwwz! X3 Yay for cute slashy fluff! LoL **

**Mikey is an open minded guy/turtle, and so yeah... I think I've said it before somewhere, but he's more of the "love is love yo!" type who doesn't see gender as an issue but is still all shy and adorable about it. **

**Well, can't think of anything more to say. X3 See you next chapter!**


	14. New Perspective

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Alright! Another update! X3 I love original content. **

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><p><strong>"New Perspective"<strong>

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><p>Things seemed to cool down for a bit for the turtles and the secret ninjas. Mikey's brothers tried to ask him about what Jenny had said, but he told them he would tell his bros and sensei in his own time.<p>

And after getting pressed on the matter, Splinter kindly stepped in and told them to leave Mikey alone. The youngest terrapin was grateful that his father figure understood, and continued seeing his human friend Danny in secret.

Only Jenny knew about them. Well, Kaia knew too, but Mikey didn't know her yet. Mikey thought it was nice when the three of them got to hang out sometimes, but he preferred being alone with Danny.

He wasn't really sure why, but somehow the orange banded turtle was better at sharing pizza than he was the ash-brunet. Dan thought it was cute and it just made Jenny giggle and try not to stick around for too long. Besides, she had her own things to do.

Like being friends with April. The ginger wasn't as smart as her, but she got the gist of what Jen would talk about; occasionally making a remark of how the redhead reminded her of Donnie in some aspect or another, as they were both interested in tech and science, etc. April couldn't help thinking the two boffins would get along great, if only Donnie would stop being so stubborn.

Jenny thought it might be a good idea for Kaia to go with her when the orangette had time to hang out with Raph. Jen thought that it might help Raph with his anger issues to hang out with someone like Kaia who could help him keep them in check.

Kaia thought the idea might merit some fun, and agreed, since it would also allow her to make sure her redheaded friend was safe. Raph wasn't expecting to see the sassy orange-blonde girl there, and almost took off back to the lair.

The boom happy boffin rolled her eyes as she went to stop him and explain that it was good to make new friends, and that if he gave Kaia a chance, he would learn how much they had in common.

The red banded turtle gave a huff of disbelief and scowled at Kaia; who in turn winked at him impishly. He blushed and looked away quickly, before reluctantly saying he would give it a chance so long as Jenny didn't leave him alone with the mouthy woman. Jen tried not to laugh, but told him she would try.

It started off rather awkwardly at first, as Jenny tried getting Raph to talk to her first, and then to Kaia, which didn't work. The orangette didn't get why the hotheaded turtle had to be all stubborn, but thought it was funny and offered a challenge.

The next time they went to hang out, Kaia asked beforehand if there was anything Raph really liked. Jen told her about the turtles weakness for pizza, and so the amiable assassin brought one.

However, the red banded ninja could only have a slice if he tried having a conversation with her. Raph was tempted to try and fight her again, but then his stomach gave an embarrassing growl at the delicious smell of the hot pie, and he grumpily relented when Kaia threatened to lick the whole pizza.

Slowly but surely, after that Raph had gotten more comfortable around Jenny, and even Kaia as well, and would sometimes like to bring his pet turtle Spike to hang out with them. He said it was because he wanted to show Spike off to Jenny, but the redhead got the feeling he wanted Kaia to see it too.

Jen thought Spike was a cute; for a snapping turtle. While the orangette scooped him up in her hands and practically gushed over him; making Raph blush almost as red as his mask. Kaia didn't do that gross gushing like Mikey did.

It was really more like she spoke sweetly to the little snapping turtle; telling him what a sweetie he was, how cool his eyes and shell looked, and stuff like that while gently petting him when he came to sit on her lap or head or shoulder.

And the little fella seemed to like her too, as he liked to be on her while she, Jen and Raph were kicking back. The red banded turtle was taken aback by this and a touch jealous, but somewhat begrudgingly took Spike's behavior as a sign that his lil buddy saw Malakaia as a good person.

He'd never seen him really like anyone but Master Splinter. Even if Raph did think it was funny when Spike snapped at his brothers. Spike liked it when Kaia started bringing him a lettuce leaf when Jen told her Raph was gonna bring him.

Raph thought it was really nice the orangette did that too. It almost seemed like the young woman understood that Spike was a ninjas pet, and not some fluffy pink bow wearing show cat that needed to be cooed over in a disgustingly sweet way; like his brother usually and mostly mockingly did to poor Spike.

And though Kaia usually only hung out for a few minutes at a time because she had work or needed to tend to or go spend time with her younger brother, the grumpy turtle couldn't help but begin to secretly wish that she could stay longer.

He had no idea she had a little brother, but apparently she cared about him very much from what Jenny told him when he got up the nerve to ask; not wanting to seem interested or like he cared, even if Jen knew some of what he thought of the orangette already.

But when she wasn't finding time to hang with Mikey and Danny or Akira, or play buffer to Kaia and Raph, Jenny usually ended up playing buffer for April and Donnie when he tried to hang out with April.

Because April would call up the redhead and pleadingly ask that she come and chill with them so the ginger wouldn't have to be alone with Donnie. Apparently the brainy turtles unwanted affections tended to put April on edge and creep her out.

And nothing the ginger ever said to deter him seemed to work. Donnie still didn't think much of Jenny, because he was jealous April preferred her company to his and silly reasons like that.

But even though Donnie tried to be civil and get along with Jen, he felt like she was competition for April's attention, and they ended up getting off to a rough start when the ginger got the idea to have Jenny be their social buffer.

However, Jen was unaware of this and found the brainy turtles behavior rather confusing and even downright rude at times, so needless to say they didn't communicate much. Even if they were in or on the same room or rooftop.

And when they did, it felt rather strained; especially after the incident where Donnie had hurt her. He was secretly grateful that the redhead hadn't said anything to April, but that was because she wasn't mean like that. Well, she could be if she wanted to. But that wasn't the type of person she wanted to be.

It was some time after the whole Chris Bradford incident that Mikey strolled into the purple banded ninjas lab with a spring in his step. "Hey Donnie, could I _pleeeeease_ borrow your laptop for a while?" Mikey asked ever so sweetly, as he came bounding into his older brothers lab.

"I guess…" Don said all miserably and pushed it over to the side so Mikey could use it. He was all depressed because April left to go hang out with Jenny _again_. Apparently Jenny had the weekend free.

And so April asked if she wanted to do something, as the ginger liked keeping distracted from the fact that evil aliens had her dad. The rosy haired secret kunoichi understood, and so they went to hang out and have some fun.

Jenny showed her Mr. Murakami's restaurant and the ginger instantly fell in love with it; which made Jen happy to see. The boffin didn't tell April that they went to the same school since she didn't see any reason to.

Jen preferred to hang out with her brother and Akira during lunch, and Aki had made a good point in saying it might not be a good idea to invite April into their group since they still didn't know what the Kraang had wanted with her or her father.

Something could go wrong; like the alien goons coming back for the ginger, and anyone associated with her could be put in harms way. Which definitely meant her twin brother Casey.

Like any good, overprotective sister, Jen wanted to keep her sweet, goofy brother safe. So even if she felt bad about it, she kept her presence at Roosevelt High a secret for as long as it could be kept.

When Donatello asked April if she wanted to hang out again, and she'd told him that she already had plans with Jenny, Donnie was none too stoked about it. It seemed like April almost always preferred to hang out with Jen instead of him.

But after he glanced over at his happily humming brother with a desire for distraction from his grumpy, jealous thoughts, he realized his little bro had certainly been getting a lot more use out of Donnie's computer than he had lately. He wondered what it was he was doing on there… Maybe playing games?

But if Mikey was, he would've been pretty noisy about it. This struck Donnie's curiosity as he leaned over a little to see what the other was up to. "Sweet! Thanks, D!" The eager orange banded ninja said as he excitedly went onto the internet to that silly MyFace website.

Donnie rolled his eyes. "Mikey, what are you doing messing around on that stupid site? I thought you'd unfriended Chris Bradford already?" But the younger turtle typed in his login info. "Pfft!" Mikey gave an airy wave of his hand as he waited for the page to load. "He's not the ONLY one on MyFace dude."

As the page finished loading, Donatello noticed little red blips next to the little white icons, and realized Mikey had notifications. "And I just so happen to have a _much_ better friend on here." The youngest turtle said smugly as he checked to see what his notifications were.

"**Danny "Likes" your photo!" **Was what the first one at the bottom said as he scrolled down to it quickly. And next to the text was a tiny picture of a baby bunny asleep in someone's hand that Mikey had found on the internet.

"Awww yeah!" Michelangelo happily cheered coolly as he went to browse over what the others were. Mikey hadn't really expected Donnie to peek, but he wasn't as afraid about the others knowing as he had been.

Now that he and Danny were more secure in their friendship, he was determined to be friends with Danny whether his family approved or not. Danny deserved as much of a chance as April or Jenny.

So, figuring he'd test the waters with his brainy brother who was crushing on a human with the hope he would better understand, Mikey had chosen to answer his question.

"Who the heck is Danny?" Donnie asked skeptically. "He's like, the _cooooolest_ human friend a turtle could have, that's who!" Mikey told the other grinningly as if it were common knowledge. "Well, I guess Jen is too." He added thoughtfully.

Donnie quirked an eyebrow; highly doubting it after having met Mikey's last so-called "friend" who ended up being top minion to the Shredder. But when Mikey went to go check out the notifications that led him to Danny's Wall so the young turtle could see what the other had posted, he realized who it was.

"Hey! Isn't that the guy who almost died trying to save y-mmhnhh!?" Donnie exclaimed a bit too loudly; causing Mikey to grab him by the face to stifle his voice with a hand over his mouth..

"Shhh! And yes. But don't tell anyone, okay D?" He asked his older brother with those big pleading eyes. Okay… maybe Mikey wasn't as ready as he thought he was. But baby steps man! Baby step.

He swatted the others hand away from his face in slight annoyance. "I dunno Mikey… He could be dangerous." His protective brotherly instincts were kicking in as he eyed the photo of the young ash-brown haired young man; whose appearance of sunny innocence actually made him feel a bit bad for being suspicious.

Mikey pouted; getting pretty tired of how his brothers didn't trust his sense of judgment. That whole Chris Bradford thing had been a mistake, yeah he'd admit that. But if he hadn't taken a chance on Danny, who knows what might've happened?

"Danny's the one who tried to tell me Chris Bradford was no good. And the only reason I ended up in that mess was because I didn't listen to him!" The youngest turtle defended.

Okay, Donnie hadn't been expecting that. "Seriously? How'd he know Bradford was bad when we didn't?" He asked; genuinely curious as he rubbed his chin. At this, Mikey paused and looked hesitant to answer.

"Well… uh… ya see… He's kinda… Bradford's little cousin." He admitted; whispering the last part so quietly Don almost hadn't heard him. "What?!" But before Donnie could lecture him, Mikey threw up his hands in defense.

"He didn't know Bradford was working for the Shredder, okay?! All he knew was that his cousin was a big jerk, and that they didn't get along all that well. So before you go saying something that'll make me smack you upside your head with my chucks, just know that I _really_ like this guy, and he's done nothing but be a really awesome friend. I mean c'mon dude! He almost _died_ trying to help me, even after I deliberately didn't listen to him!"

At the last part, Donnie's expression saddened as it hit him why Mikey had taken it so hard when the boy was injured trying to help him. He knew his brother had a good heart, but he didn't realize the reason why was because he'd been tormenting himself with the guilt he felt for what had happened.

"Sorry Mikey… I didn't mean it like that." He sighed; face palming before lowering his hand to look at his sibling, who was obviously still troubled by the event. "I guess he means a lot to you, huh?"

Mikey nodded and smiled sadly, as he slowly kicked his legs where he sat up on the high stool, with his side to the counter to better talk to Donnie. "Yeah… I really like him. And what's great is he likes me too. He doesn't think I'm gross or freaky or ugly." The sadness seemed to melt away into a look of bubbly happiness he hadn't seen from Mikey before as the younger terrapin spoke.

And somehow, though his anger at the others sneaking around with a human had been replaced by being glad for his bro, Donatello couldn't help feeling rather envious he had someone who made him look so… _happy_. Like he was on freakin' cloud nine.

He averted his eyes from the others contented expression, and his eyes were caught by glint of bright red on the website Mikey was on. It made him think of the redhead who was currently spending time with his April.

But upon a closer look to see what it was, did his reddish brown eyes widen in disbelief and shock to see the smiling face of the redheaded menace herself! "It's her!" He uttered breathlessly and almost accusingly, as he stared at the picture in a line up of other peoples MyFace profiles under the caption **"Friends List"**.

The youngest ninja blinked and then followed the others gaze while he ignored the others comical antics. His face lit up in surprise. "Oh yeah! I'm also friends with Jen on here." He chimed in his usual cheerful tone. "I should probably tell Raph. I bet he'd be pretty psyched to know she has a page on here."

Donnie blinked; looking at Mikey bemusedly. "Why would he be psyched about that?" It was Mikey's turn to look confused. "Cuz they're friends. Duuuuuh! Why wouldn't he wanna talk to her? I mean, what with her being so busy, we don't get to hang with her much."

"Pfft. Yeah? So?" Donnie huffed as he crossed his arms. Mikey eyed his brother; wondering why he was behaving all weird like that. "Well, because she's cool." He stated like it was as obvious as pizza being delicious. "Yeah, well, so is April." The brainy turtle defended childishly.

Michelangelo raised a brow. "Uuuh… Oooookay. Yeah, I guess she is too. But Jen's really nice, and she was totally kicking butt that night when we met her, and she saved April from falling out of that helicopter like April told us she did. Oh! Oh! And she gave me the number of that pizza place that lets us put whatever toppings we want on it!" Mikey listed; being quite excited about the last part.

"She's kinda like a big sister. You know, if she wasn't like, the same age as us or whatever. Heh." Mikey chuckled lightly; turning back to checking his MyFace updates and notifications while Donnie sulked at the fact that the other was right.

No wonder April preferred Jenny… Compared to her, he was just some geeky mutant freak who lived in a smelly sewer… Not much for competition he supposed. He'd have to figure out some way to fix that. The sound of Mikey's next words snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Y'know D, you could make a MyFace page and send her a friend request. Who knows? Maybe if you actually tried talking to her instead of ignoring her, you'll hit it off and become BFF's." He said with a casual shrug and a bubbly smile.

Mikey didn't know about the incident where Don had been so rude and rough towards Jenny. And he and his other two brothers thought it best he didn't either since he seemed to have been upset by the whole Bradford incident.

"Hmm, I wonder if April knows Danny too? The three of them could all be hanging out together. I bet they're having all kinds of awesome fun with Danny. I mean, he's pretty awesome." Mikey commented; mostly talking to himself as he couldn't help feeling a little envious at the fact that Jen and April got to go around in public with his friend and enjoy themselves.

It smacked Donnie in the face like a brick when he processed Mikey's ramblings, and realized that April was hanging around a teenage boy. And panic began to set in. "Hmm… I wanna ask Danny if he's hanging with Jen and April, but I dunno. Seems kinda nosy… What do you think, D? Uh… D?"

He eyed the other curiously and cautiously as he saw Donnie's eye give a twitch while he processed the others slightly frighteningly genius idea. Even if Mikey was unaware as to the reason why it was genius.

Suddenly he had Mikey spun around and was shaking him by the shoulders. "DO IT! DO IT NOW!" The poor orange banded ninja had swirls in his eyes as he tried to stop the other shaking him. "I-yai-eyai ca-a-a-a-aaaan't wiiiith you sha-a-a-a-aking meeee!" He shouted.

"Oh… right. Heheheh… sorry." Donnie immediately stopped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and sweat dropped; trying to chill out. Mikey took a moment as he checked to make sure his head hadn't been snapped off from the violent shaking, and then gave the other a pouty glare.

Then he smirked like a man with a plan. "Okay. I'll do it. On _oooone_ condition." He offered smugly. It wasn't too often he had a nice, juicy bit of leverage over one of his brothers; especially Donnie. And judging from the others reaction, he knew he had himself some.

"I don't care. So long as it's within reason, you know I'll do it." The purple banded ninja huffed impatiently; sounding on the verge of screaming and shaking him again as his right eye gave another twitch. April could be holding hands or something with that creep Danny, while Mikey was so childishly making demands.

Mikey sweat dropped; leaning slightly away in case the other grabbed him again. "I want a cell phone WITH internet capabilities, so I can talk to Danny." Donnie folded his arms over his chest. Well that wasn't so bad. "Okay. Done."

"OH! And texting too!"

"Doable."

"OH! OOH! And maybe some games, and music, and-"

"Mikey!" Donnie warned in a low tone; getting dangerously impatient. Mikey sweat dropped again and grinned meekly. "Right. Okay then! So what do you want me to ask him? He should be on soo-" He was interrupted by a different pinging sound as he received a message.

Glancing at the chat box that opened up he saw it was Danny saying "Hey Mikey." The brainy ninja watched curiously as his brothers whole being seemed to light up at the simple message, and Mikey gave an excited giggle as he pressed his fists together in front of him like an excited fan girl.

"Sweet! He's on! It's like he _knew_ I was waiting or something!" Mikey said in awe; like it was some kind of psychic super power only good friends like he and Dan had or something.

Donnie rolled his eyes. "Didn't you sign on because you knew he'd be on around this time?" He asked with a raised brow. "Mmmmmmmmmaybe." Mikey countered playfully while carefully typing in a response.

_Michelangelo: "Hey Dude! :3 I was just talking about you!"_

_Danny: "O.o Really? With who?" _Don frowned. "Can you tell him it's 'whom' not 'who?'" Mikey rolled his eyes. "I'm not doing that… what're you a grammar Nazi or somethin'?"

Donnie sputtered at the insult but all he could do was growl and bite his tongue if he wanted the other to cooperate. Mikey snickered. "I totally learned that term from hanging out with Danny by the way. He knows lots of funny stuff like that."

Don glowered and muttered under his breath. "Yeah, I just bet he does." Mikey stopped and shot the brainy turtle a warning look as he whipped out one of his nun chucks.

"What'd you say?" He asked in a slightly scary tone he only ever heard on the rare occasion Mikey actually got ticked off. The purple banded ninja threw up his hands. "Nothing!" Mikey leaned back. "Yeah… That's what I thought."

He put his weapon away before replying to his friend. Mikey wondered why Donnie had to act like an overly envious jerk when it came to April, but guessed he wasn't too pleased himself at the thought of Danny spending time with the ginger girl either. But for entirely different reasons than Don's.

_Michelangelo: "One of my brothers."_

"Mikey, shouldn't you be asking him about you know what?" Donnie asked; tapping one of his fingers impatiently on the counter as he took the seat beside the other so he could see what was going on. The younger rolled his eyes.

"Well excuuuuuuuse me! I'm only trying to talk to _my friend,_ and politely ask him about his day and stuff, before I go asking him for something. Geez dude! Get some manners." Mikey chided indignantly before he turned back to the screen at hearing another ping.

Leaving Donnie quite taken aback before he gave a frustrated growl. "Oh fine… whatever!" He wasn't sure why his orange banded and usually goofy brother seemed so protective of this Danny human, but it sure had quite a curiously maturing effect on him.

_Danny: "Wow. How'd that go? I thought you didn't want them to know because you were worried they'd overreact?" _At seeing that, Donnie shrunk down in his seat some as he had almost done just that. Mikey flashed him a knowing grin.

_Michelangelo: "Yeah, I know. But I figured if I was gonna keep borrowing his laptop to sign on here, he'd find out sooner of later. His name's Donatello, but we all call him Donnie. He seems pretty fine with it so far, but he's still my bro, so y'know."_

_Danny: "^_^ It's cool. I can understand that. I'm just glad it went well. So how was your day?"_ At this Donnie sighed and face palmed. "Oh would you just get on with it already!" Mikey rolled his eyes.

_Michelangelo: "I'd LOVE to tell you, but my bro is literally breathing over my shoulder here because he wants to know if you're currently hanging out with Jen and a girl with ginger hair." _

_Danny: "Oh! Do you mean April?" _

"Yes, yes! Tell him yes already!" Donnie said as he gave the others shoulder a shake. "DUDE! Stop that or I won't!" Mikey scolded with a firm look; and Donnie knew he meant what he said and shied away with a small "Sorry Mikey". Sighing and wondering how the other could be such a spaz, he went to type in the answer.

_Michelangelo: "Yeah, and he won't stop buggin' me about it." _

_Danny: "I see. Well, actually, I'm at work right now. I'm just taking a break." _

At this, Mikey looked at Donnie expectantly and for a moment, the older turtle looked confused. "Ah! Right. Um… How does he know April?" Mikey exhaled exasperatedly. "Really? THAT'S what you wanna know?" He gave his bro a flat look.

"Well… Yeah… I mean, I don't wanna be the last to know that April and this Danny are boyfriend and girlfriend or something." Donnie said weakly; feeling like what he said sounded stupid out loud.

At this, Mikey's eyes widened and Don noticed a flash of something like fear in those baby blues, before the other suddenly got this determined look, and went back to typing.

_Michelangelo: "Donnie wants to know how you two know each other and if she's your girlfriend?"_

_Danny: "LoL! Who? Jenny? Tell him he's got no need to worry about me. We're just good friends, that's all."_

"What?! Why would he think that?! I meant April!" Donnie exclaimed as a blush dusted his face, though he wasn't sure why. Why did everyone seem to think he'd be interested in Jenny?! He liked April for cryin' out loud!

Mikey noticed this and found it noteworthy. He went to type in his next message; wondering what the real reason was that Donnie acted weird around Jen, and if his brainy bro even knew it himself.

_Michelangelo: "No, sorry. He meant April." _

_Danny: "Oh. Well, I haven't met her yet. I only know what Jen tells me, and it isn't much. She's very good at respecting peoples privacy." _

Both brothers sighed in relief before exchanging a look as to why the other would be relieved. Then Mikey shrugged and went back to typing.

_Michelangelo: "Oh. Okay. :D"_

_Danny: "Glad to put your minds at ease. ^_~" _Mikey blushed and Donnie couldn't help finding that a bit odd.

_Danny: "Anything else you'd like to know? I'm surprised he doesn't just make a profile on here and ask Jen himself. I'm sure she wouldn't mind." _Donnie crossed his arms and made an annoyed groan, while Mikey chuckled.

_Danny: "XD I'll send her a message that your brother wants to be friends if you want? That way he'll have a better chance of her accepting his friend request. What with all the spammers on here, she usually ignores people she doesn't know or whatever." _

Mikey watched as Donnie scoffed at the idea, but he wished D would get over whatever weirdness he had towards Jen, that way they could all be friends. So, instead of saying no, the impish ninja got an idea.

_Michelangelo: "He seems psyched about that idea. Thanks Sunny-D! You're the best! X3" _Mikey replied as he turned to his brother with a devilish smirk to watch his reaction. Donnie glared at Mikey; looking like he wanted to bop him repeatedly over the head with his bo staff.

But before he could, the youngest ninja grabbed the laptop and bolted toward the safety of his own room; ducking and dodging whatever Donnie threw at him to try and slow him down so he could bop him. He locked his door and plopped onto his bed to see the chat box blinking to signal his bud had replied.

_Danny: "Happy to help, Miketastic. ^_^ So back to my asking about your day… LoL" _Mikey giggled and chatted with his buddy, while Donatello smoldered about being outwitted by the least smart person in their family.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**I love those moments when Mikey seems like the most mature one of the group and one of the others is spazzing out and/or acting like the immature one.**


	15. Change Your Mind

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): LoL my last chapter explained my reasoning behind how Donnie took so long to come up with the T-phones. I mean, they just seem like something Mikey would inspire. XD**

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><p><strong>"Change Your Mind"<strong>

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><p>Mikey took a good half an hour or so to chat, and later emerged looking all satisfied with himself about something that couldn't possibly bode well for Donnie. "Here you are, Bro. And as thanks, I made you something <em>special<em>." He told the older turtle.

As he set the laptop down in front of Donatello, the brainy terrapins eyes widened as he saw what was on the screen. "Oh no… In the name of Darwin's beard, what have you done?!" D asked melodramatically as he stared up at his brother with a "Why me?" expression.

"Well, I figured, since April is friends with Jenny, and you like April, that you should probably get to know Jen. Who knows. Maybe being friends with Jenny might help you and April become closer." Michelangelo mused nonchalantly.

Mikey could be a diabolical genius when he wanted to. That's why he'd gone ahead and made Donnie his own MyFace page and sent Jenny a friend request; which got accepted only a few minutes after Danny sent his message to her.

He really wanted them all to be friends. Plus, he didn't think April was right for his bro. She obviously didn't return his feelings. But with Jenny, there was at least a possibility.

"Hmm… You know, you may have a point, Mikey." Donatello said slowly as he muddled over the others previously stupid sounding idea; only to realize it was actually a clever plan. Becoming friends with the friend of the girl you liked could potentially be beneficial to winning said girls affections.

"Alright… I'll give it a shot. For April." The gap toothed turtle stated with an air of determination; like one does when setting out on some difficult task. Mikey frowned disapprovingly, and began to wonder if it was such a good idea after all…

He really hoped Donnie wouldn't end up hurting Jen's feelings in the process of trying to win over April. Giving his brother one last pensive look before he left to go visit Danny for pizza on the roof, so they could enjoy some tasty Roof Pizza.

Donnie thanked him and immediately began searching Jenny's MyFace friends list for April. Unfortunately the friends on her list was blocked by a privacy setting. Apparently her profile was more secure than Danny's he guessed, because he had to search manually to find April.

He sent the ginger a friend request; waiting patiently for quite a while before getting bored and choosing to browse over Jenny's wall while he waited. Apart from the picture on her profile, Jen didn't have any pictures up of herself; at least none that the purple masked ninja could see.

But she did have a lot of funny and interesting posts regarding various types of sciences and technologies. One was a joke involving Einstein, Newton, and Pascal that nearly had him falling off his chair with laughter.

Donnie couldn't believe Jen had stuff like that on her page. Sure, she seemed somewhat smart when they met, but from what he could tell between her postings and interests section, they had quite a bit in common.

Hmm… Maybe he'd been rather hasty in judging her the way he had. He doubted she was as genius as he was, but at least being on friendly terms with her might not be as horrible as first assumed if they had something they could talk about.

After his eyes got tired from the brightness of the screen, he took a break to get a slice of pizza, before heading back to his lab and grabbing a pencil and some paper to start making a few designs of how the phone could look.

Mikey had been talking about wanting a phone for a while, and had mentioned lots of ideas. And with that in mind, he began making some sketches. He remembered Mikey mentioning how cool it would be if they had phones much earlier, but hadn't really considered it as anything more than a whim before.

If they went out on patrol and got separated or needed to split up, they actually could come in handy… Plus, if things went well with April, then they would definitely come in handy! Huh, go figure Mikey having more than one good idea in a lifetime…

Jenny and April were at a café when Danny had sent her a text about Donnie wanting to send her a friend request. April was getting tired of eating pizza and had been longing to visit a café. The ginger ended up ranting a bit about how the way the turtles ate pizza with all those toppings that it didn't even count as food, much less pizza.

The redhead laughed and said everyone was different, and that April didn't have to eat their pizza if she didn't want to. April sighed but agreed; feeling a bit bad she hadn't thought about it that way. But the gingers head hadn't really been straight since the night she lost her dad.

Jen couldn't blame her. It had been quite a shock when she discovered she had mutant powers for the first time. In a way she was glad Casey hadn't been around, what with how he probably would've considered her a "freak" or "mutant". And she just didn't need that.

The only reason Jen was taken notice of was because she told Aki, and Aki told her cousin; who thought she might make a good Guardian because Akira vouched for her friend. Akira was accepted for obvious reasons; especially since the Seung family/clan had been allies of the Utroms for years.

And Danny, well… When he got his powers, he took to playing hero as the Nightwatcher. He'd been doing a surprisingly good job, until he accidentally mistook some Guardians as thieves while they were about to take out a Kraang cache of mutagen, and got his butt brought in.

Thankfully for Danny, they were impressed by his use of powers and limited martial arts. Most Guardians were just regular humans. There were only a small number of those who were mutants like Jen and her group.

Well, after seeing his text, Jen told Danny she'd accept it and thanked him for letting her know. Since the incident with Donnie having tried to rudely interrogate her, Jenny had been doing her best to avoid him.

Because the situation had involved the turtles little brother having almost gotten killed, Jen could understand he would've been upset and why he behaved that way. So she couldn't be but so mad at him. And since then Leo and Raph apologized on his behalf because they knew it had upset her.

With this sudden friend request thing though, the redette wondered if maybe Donnie wanted to apologize himself or something. Not that she was going to hold her breath for that to happen but… well, it would be refreshing if there wasn't so much tension between her and the brainy ninja when he was around.

Donnie was in the middle of his fourth design when a ping caught his attention. It was a chat box from Jenny. She had finally gotten home from hanging out with April, and had been up in her room about to start working on something, when she got the inkling to check her MyFace page and see who was on.

It was quite a shock at how many "Likes" she'd gotten from Donnie. Apparently he'd been on for a while to have liked almost everything on her wall. She couldn't help finding it rather amusing; especially since the rude turtle never seemed much interested in her whenever they were in the same vicinity. And again, she wondered why he suddenly wanted to be friends…

_Jenny: "Hey Donatello, Danny said you were interested in being friends on here, so I thought I'd drop you a line. What's up?" _Donnie just sat there for a moment; not quite sure what to do. Well… might as well give it a shot.

_Donatello: "Hi Jenny. Not much. Just working on some schematics." _There… She'd probably get bored by the word "schematics" like April usually did when he started blathering on about his interests or whatever and try to change the subject.

Donnie wished he could talk to April about something that might interest her. But he just couldn't seem to think of anything they really had in common; not that he knew much about her in general… Maybe talking to the redhead would give him a better idea about what girls talk about? Or at least April.

Jenny raised an interested brow as she sat her little work desk with a few tools and parts to the right side; having been in the process of repairing the toaster Casey had messed up.

She had her laptop, that she ended up customizing (similar to Donnie's), resting on her desk in front of her, as she read Donatello's message and played some music by Panic! At the Disco.

_Jenny: "Oh? Schematics for what? If you don't mind my asking of course." _He had to admit, even though he wasn't crazy about her like he was April, Donnie still found it somewhat difficult to talk to a girl.

But the fact that she had actually asked about what he was doing was a refreshing change from how April usually answered. Now that he thought about it, he usually tried to avoid being around Jenny since it was the gingers attention he was after…

_Donatello: "Oh, you probably don't want to hear about it. It's just boring science stuff." _Heh, he really didn't know her very well, or at all really. Oh was he in for a surprise, she thought in amusement.

_Jenny: "Let me be the judge of that. :3" _There was a long pause as he contemplated telling her or not, and several minutes passed.

_Jenny: "Hello? Did my message send?" _Donnie bit his bottom lip; or what passes for a mutant turtles bottom lip.

_Donatello: "Yeah, I got it." _He sighed. Why couldn't talking to a girl, whether you liked her or not, be easier for a geek like him. Jenny frowned thoughtfully.

_Jenny: "I know we haven't really gotten to talk much, and that it's probably not very easy talking to girls for you. I've seen how tongue-tied you get around April, so if that's what's bothering you, it really shouldn't. I'd like to be friends if that's okay, so why don't we start simple since we're getting to know each other. How was your day, Donatello?"_

And she meant it. She was sick of all the BS between them, and hoped that maybe being able to talk like this would give them the chance to sort out whatever it was that he had against her, so they could be on better terms.

Well… he hadn't been expecting that. He had to re-read it a few times to make sure he read it right. Huh… She noticed all of that? Well, if she was going to make the effort…

_Donatello: "I don't get THAT tongue-tied around April -_-;;. But, okay." _And so he began to tell her a little about his day. But the more he said, and the more she replied, the easier it seemed to flow.

And the next thing he knew, they were having a pleasant conversation. He eventually asked her about her day when he was done, and she told him about how her and April hung out.

_Donatello: "Why didn't she just come down to the lair? She can always hang out with me and my brothers." _

_Jenny: "I asked her that actually. And don't take this the wrong way, because I doubt she meant it that way, but she told me she just needed some "normal time"."_

_Donatello: "Normal time? What the heck is that? O.o"_

_Jenny: "Dude, she's been feeling bummed about her dad and overwhelmed by all this stuff involving aliens and mutants. She just wanted to hang out with a friend and go do regular stuff. Like go to get a cup of coffee and hang out in the café, or check out a music store. That's all."_

_Donatello: "Oh… so, basically stuff she can't do with us?" _

_Jenny: "Well yeah, but again, don't take it the wrong way. April's just going through a lot right now. Just give her some time and I'm sure she'll be fine. Besides, she does like spending time with you guys, almost as much as I do. Oh tell your brothers "Hi" for me by the way, would you please? X3" _

_Donatello: "Okay. I will. And yeah, I guess you have a point… :/ I mean, I couldn't imagine losing one of my brothers like that." _

_Jenny: "Exactly. So just go easy on her. 'Kay Donnie boy?" _

_Donatello: "I'll do my best. And thanks for the advise." _He told her before he really thought about it. Surprised by how supportive and informative she was being, and smiling a little at the nickname.

_Donatello: "So what are you up to?" _

_Jenny: "Oh, I'm fixing the toaster. My doofus brother got ticked at it this morning when it burnt his toast and he threw it against the wall, so yeah. -_-*"_ She was… _fixing something_… that an angry brother broke? Huh… That sounded familiar.

_Donatello: "Do you need any help? I'm pretty good at repairing things. Raph can be hotheaded like that too." _

_Jenny: "LoL, no but thanks. I'm used to doing stuff like this. I know it might sound geeky or whatever, but I really like working with my hands and working on or building something."_ Donnie's eyes grew wide and glassy as he took in her words. And the next thing he knew, he went all geek mode before he could stop himself.

_Donatello: "Really?! Me too! I was working on some designs for my next project when you messaged me! :D" _

_Jenny: "Yeah you mentioned that before. Sounds interesting. Now if only I knew what it was. XP LoL" _

_Donatello: "Well… I'd tell you. But, it might sound weird…"_

_Jenny: "I tend to like weird. ;) So I think we'll be fine." _He felt his cheeks warm as he smiled at the little winking smiley face, before he tried to shake it off and remember it was April he liked, and that the redhead was nothing special.

Although… She _was_ a lot cooler about this sort of stuff than April. At least maybe he'd finally have someone to talk to about it. Best give it a try and see what happened. His curiosity was getting the better of him.

_Donatello: "Some cell phones for me and my brothers." _

Jenny didn't think talking to Donnie would've been any fun. But ended up sort of falling into her usually friendly playful nature and even went so far as to send him a cute smiley face that winked at him.

_Jenny: "But… cell phones have already been invented. Hmm… Unless you're making customized ones? Then that's not weird at all." _Whoa… He hadn't expected that. He seriously thought she would make fun of him like Raph had earlier, before he tried to explain and was then blown off as Raph went to go feed Spike.

_Donatello: "That's exactly what I was doing! How'd you know?" _

_Jenny: "XD Dude, I just told you I was a total geek. It kind of implies I'm smart."_

_Donatello: "Sorry. I didn't mean to say you weren't or anything. It's just that I'm not really used to talking to someone who shares similar interests."_

_Jenny: "I can understand that. I tried to explain to my bro once about how to setup his smart phone, and ended up having to do it for him. Lmao! I love him, but he's one electron short of an atom."_

_Donatello: "XD Hah! That's so cute! I totally know what you mean!" _Donnie was enjoying their conversation so much, he didn't notice his slip up until she pointed it out; having thought her science joke was just adorable.

_Jenny: "Cute huh? How sweet of you to notice, Donnie. ;3"_ She couldn't help being a little flirty; whether harmless or otherwise, it was just in her nature when she got going and was having fun. Not something she thought she'd be having around Donatello of all people.

And Donnie ended up being more interesting than she thought he would be. He'd seemed a bit awkward and more interested in talking about April. It was kind of rude, but she could tell he liked the ginger. Kind of reminded her a little of Casey when he had a crush on a girl.

Donnie's eyes bugged. She just said **he** was **sweet**?! He swallowed; his fingers frozen over the keys as his heart began to race; wondering why the heck he had to be such a spaz around girls in general. _'WhatshouldIdo? WhatshouldIdo?! WhatshouldIdo-hoooooo?!'_ He thought frantically.

'_Okay. Just breath… She's NOT April, so why should I care?' _He told himself as he took a slow, steady breath. Yeah, she was just some girl who April preferred to hang out with. _'Yeah… but she IS smart and nice… Plus she is making an effort to be friends and shares some of my interests so far.' _Ugh… his head was starting to hurt.

_Jenny: "If you want, you can tell me a bit about your ideas for those phones. Maybe I can offer some input? Doesn't matter whether you use anything I say or not. It's up to you anyways. ^_^"_

_Donatello: "Well I don't really need any input, but I guess it couldn't hurt." _He was very glad for a change of subject, as he had no idea how to respond to that. And luckily for him, he reminded her some of her ex Usa-kun; who was also a very shy fellow, and she thought it was kinda cute in and of itself.

So after that, they conversed some about his basic ideas for the phones and so forth, and he quite liked her ideas; as they helped inspire more ideas of his own. He grew slowly but steadily more comfortable talking to her, and so the topic changed.

It went from his cell phone designs to one she had been helping her brother tinker with for some class project. It was for a homemade stunner using a battery, a glove covered in chain mesh.

Which she would have to make herself since Casey didn't know the first thing about it, and a few other odds and ends she and her brother had found when scavenging at the junk yard for parts they could use.

He thought it sounded rather cool. Both were pretty happy to have someone to discuss that sort of thing with, as their other friends and relatives just weren't as interested in science and such as they were.

But after a while, Casey came in asking when she was gonna make dinner because he was getting hungry, so she told him she had to go get dinner ready, and the turtle bid her a good night. Donatello found he was actually disappointed their conversation had been cut short, but feeling rather happy they'd been able to have one after all.

Much less one that went so fantastically well. He even learned that the reason she'd had been able to fight as awesomely as she had that night was because she grew up playing hockey with her brother to help him practice; which was technically true.

Donnie went back to work on his cell phone designs in a much better mood than he had been when he'd started; humming a happy tune as he worked, and surprising even himself by how much he looked forward to when he'd get to chat with the friendly redhead again.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Yay! Donnie's starting to get along with my OC Johnny! X3 XD It seems being flirty is something that runs in the Jones family. **


	16. Double Trouble

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving/Turkey Day if you celebrated it! X3 And that you enjoy this tasty helping of an update. LoL I know, this fic tends to get more love than my not so slashy one, but that's because this one technically gets edited more than the other when I change the genders, etc. XD So it can't really be helped since I'm too lazy. Besides, I write this for fun. I'm not getting any profit or reward out of it, so while I DO work hard on what I write, I'm not gonna go back and change it for reasons of my own, so don't bother asking. ^_^**

**This chapter is going to deal with some stuff I wanted to get out of the way and/or introduce, etc. So yay for that. And kudos if you catch the little jokes/foreshadowing I've slipped in. :D Enjoy**

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><p><strong>"Double Trouble"<strong>

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><p>Back when Danny had woken up in the Utrom infirmary, he discovered his phone was bombarded by texts, missed calls, and voice messages from his creepy cousin asking if he was okay and where he was, and things like that.<p>

The ash-brunet wasn't sure how he wanted to handle the precarious situation with Chris yet, so he just tried to ignore them like Kaia suggested. Besides, Danny had been more concerned about how Mikey was doing, then whatever guilt trip his cousin was bound to try to lay on him to get back in his good graces.

Since having gotten to hang out with Mikey, and them having some much welcomed time to hang out together, Danny thought he should at least let the insane brunet know he was okay and you know, not dead or anything.

Kaia said that the younger ninjas niceness might come back to bite him some day if he wasn't careful. He hated it when the cheeky assassin said foreboding things like that. And though the orangette may have had a point, he wasn't about to stoop to some low level and be unnecessarily cruel or anything like that. It just wasn't him. So he replied with a simple text.

_Danny: "Hey Chris_."

Bradford had been pretty pissed off when he saw that the turtles took his cousin with them when they took that Mikey twit. And his mood didn't improve when he and Xever chased them into the filthy sewer.

Or for that matter when they couldn't find Daniel anywhere after they managed to get out of the muck they'd been blasted with. The unstable martial artist was beginning to feel panic set in when all his Foot ninjas could find was a blood stain.

Oh God… what if Danny was dying all alone down there somewhere? What if those turtles found out they were related and were torturing him? Being from the type of clan that Bradford was apart of, he assumed all others were the same, and that the turtles would stoop to even lower levels than he would since they were freaks.

Things didn't improve much for him after someone broke in and blasted up his dojo. Chris thought it might've been done by the turtles, but Xever explained those terrapins seemed more like the goodie two shoes type, and that it didn't make any sense.

He supposed the punk was right, but at the same time, it was obviously someone who had a beef with him. A while after Danny woke up in the infirmary, he didn't want to deal with Chris directly, so he asked if Kaia could somehow let his cousin at least know he was alive without causing a fight.

Kaia was a bit disappointed by not getting to fight her friends loser cousin, but agreed with an agitated sigh. She waited until she was working in the comic shop to call up Bradford and let him know that Danny was alive and getting better.

But much to the brunets chagrin, Kaia refused to tell him where Danny was. So when he got the text from the sunny secret ninja, Chris was rather pleased to know the other was well and finally out of the hospital so he could see him or when he might be released either.

_Chris: "Danny! Are you okay? Where are you?!" _

_Danny: "I'm fine and at home. Got out of the hospital yesterday, but was too out of it from the medicine, so I figured I'd wait until I was better to send a text." _Aww, poor kid, Bradford thought with a look of concern at the text.

_Chris: "That's fine. So long as you're okay, that's all that matters." _Danny frowned at the message. He knew Chris was probably sincere about that, and he still cared about his crazy cousin like a big brother…

But that didn't make him any less upset with how the other had tried to murder Mikey and his family. If anything, it only made things more internally conflicting for the young man; who just wished things could go back to being good like they used to be.

_Danny: "Thanks."_

_Chris: "I know you're probably not feeling well, but… would it be okay if I dropped by some time when you are?" _Bradford wanted to see the other rather badly.

He figured Danny might still be upset they ended up fighting and everything, and he wanted to try to make amends so his cousin would understand he didn't have much choice in the matter.

_Danny: "I don't know…" _

_Chris: "Please? I just want to talk and see how my favorite cousin is doing. That's all. Promise." _Danny bit his bottom lip as he tried to decide what to do. He heaved a heavy sigh; knowing Kaia would probably mock him for it later.

_Danny: "Okay. You can drop by this weekend if you want." _Daniel face palmed as he wondered why he couldn't seem to not be the good person when it came to family and friends, while Chris' spirits were lifted as he happily read the message.

_Chris: "See you this weekend then, Daniel. :D"_

_Danny: "See you then." _Danny wasn't sure what the heck to say after that, but luckily for him he got another message from the other.

_Chris: "I have to go for now, but look forward to seeing you soon. So get better."_ The henchman said as one of his minions told him that Master Shredder wanted to see him about something.

_Danny: "Okay. Thanks Chris." _The ash-brunet felt his stomach do a sickening flip-flop at the thought of the other showing up and being his usual creepy, clingy self. Dan gave a groan of aggravation, before calling up Kaia and making sure she would be coming in to work that weekend.

_Kaia: "Depends. Am I getting paid extra?" _

_Danny: "Don't you get enough money? O.o"_

_Kaia: "Lmmfao! Silly Sunspot, you can NEVER have enough money!" _Danny managed to lighten up a bit with a snort of laughter at the others use of comical nicknames.

_Danny: "Fine. What do you want?" _

_Kaia: "You know that cute wizard outfit my lil bro is always going on about?"_

_Danny: "The one from the bored game he plays?"_

_Kaia: "The very one! :3"_

_Danny: "What about it?"_

_Kaia: "You've got a mom in the fashion biz. Hook me up?"_

_Danny: "Oh c'mon! Can't you just buy him one? You know I don't like buggin' my mom for stuff… Can't I just give you money?" _

_Kaia: "Teeeeeempting, but no. I've offered to buy him one. Believe me, I've offered. But he REALLY likes that one. I mean, I've made most of it, okay? But I need a few things that I'm pretty sure your mom can get easy peasy."_

_Danny: "Oh! Well okay then. I'll see what I can do." _

_Kaia: "XP That's all I ask lol."_

_Danny: "XD I'm glad I'm not one of your clients."_

_Kaia: "Ex-squeeze me, but you kinda are! ;p"_ The two of them had a pretty good laugh about that as Danny realized the cheeky orangette was right. And with that out of the way, Kaia had a few sketches and notes of what she needed to give to Danny when she came into work.

The afternoon of that weekend, after finishing up his own business, Chris dropped by the comic shop to check up on Danny; his eagerness to see the handsome ash-brunet growing the closer he got.

He saw Danny was busy working in the shop sprucing up the place a bit, since there was a bit of a lull in the customers they were having at the moment. Chris watched him through the windows of the shop, until the ash-brunet had the weird feeling someone was staring at him.

Looking up from what he was doing, he spotted Chris; who waved a tad sheepishly at the others bemused expression. He'd been enjoying watching the other clean up, and inwardly chuckling at the thought that if Daniel were a woman that he'd make such an adorable housewife.

Though it was a good thing Danny had noticed him, as his mind was leading him to imagining what the willowy beauty might look like in a cute French Maid outfit. Chris hurried across the street to enter the shop and try to smile like he hadn't just been having a kinky fantasy where the other was dressed in a girly outfit.

"Hey Danny. You're looking well." Chris managed to say in what he hoped was a cool tone. Looking at Danny holding a feather duster did not help, as the mental martial artist felt his face heat up from the overwhelming cuteness of envisioning his sunny cousin dressed up like he had. If he had been an anime character, Chris probably would've bled out from all the nosebleeds his comely cousin would've unknowingly caused him.

"Hi, and uh… thanks. Are you okay?" Danny raised a curious brow; wondering why the other was behaving a tad more weirdly than usual. Not that he wasn't used the bouts of such behavior when the other seemed a bit creepier than he normally was, but it still put him a little on edge.

Chris cleared his throat and gave himself a mental chiding like he usually did when he had inappropriate thoughts about his cousin. "Y-yeah. I'm fine! Just uh… not really sure where we go from here." The taller male replied.

The dark brunet figured it was a good way to cover up his twisted fantasies, as he was rather unsure as to how to make amends for what had happened between them that night. Danny gave an understanding nod. "It is… awkward, to say the least."

"So why are you cleaning? Shouldn't you be resting?" He couldn't help but ask out of concern. Knowing Danny always put others and sometimes even other things before himself, and tended for the most part to pretend everything was fine when it wasn't.

"I feel a lot better today. Besides, it's just cleaning." He reasoned with a shrug; regretting the action immediately as he cringed slightly; his ribs were still rather tender from the fight. Bradford immediately stepped forward and placed his hands on the others shoulders.

"See! You should be in bed recovering. Now come on, let's get you upstairs." Chris chided as he tried to steer the other towards the stairs that led up to Danny's apartment. "N-no! Really! I'm okay! Right Kaia?" He called out to the other pleadingly. The idea of the older male trying to tuck him in starting to make him freak out.

"Yeah, he's fine. He just needs to take it easy. That's why he's doing light cleaning." The orangette commented from her usual place at the register. "You're supposed to be his friend. Why aren't you on my side?" Chris all but snarled in agitation at the cocky brats attitude.

"I've tried telling him the same thing, but he insists he's well enough to do it. And far be it from me to try arguing with Mr. Sunshine over there. I mean, heh, I'm crazy. Not stupid." Kaia smirked; finding the situation funny.

"Could've fooled me." Bradford grumbled. "What'd you say?" Topaz eyes narrowed as she shot him a glare over her yaoi manga. "I said-" Bradford began, but Danny took one of the hands Chris had on his shoulder and held it between both of his own smaller ones; causing the dark brunet to stare down at him in surprise.

"Please Chris… don't fight… Can't we just talk instead?" The gentle ninja asked with those big amber sad doe eyes of his and that comely voice to match, that always managed to make the evil henchman's heart melt.

One might think Daniel was being so cute on purpose to manipulate the other, but it was just his sincere, natural reaction from years of trying to keep his cousin from getting into a fight with someone or to make his big brotherly figure feel better.

Chris' expression softened into a warm smile and he reached up to give his cute cousins hair a mussing. "Aw, heh… Okay, Daniel. C'mon, let's go talk." The evil ninja relented; forgetting Kaia was there again, as his cousin led him away by his hand. The orangette rolled her eyes and went back to reading her smexy romance comic.

They moved over to the corner of the shop, out of the way of everyone in case more customers came in, with Chris following behind the other as usual. Dan didn't want to be alone with Chris, but did think they should have some privacy as they conversed.

"So what was it that you wanted to say?" The ash-brunet asked in a cordial tone; knowing that speaking rudely to the other would get him nowhere fast. "Listen, I'm sorry you got hurt. I really am… If there was something I could've done-"

"There's always something you can do." Danny cut in with a chiding frown as he stood with his back to the wall; his arms crossed loosely over his chest. Chris sighed and shook his head gently. "I wish it were that simple. But it's not."

"Why isn't it?" The taller male looked away towards the wall opposite the one his cousin was leaning against. "Because it's just not. I can't really tell you why. See, the people I work for and with… I was honor bound to do what I had to do." He tired to explain without letting the other know what he really did for a living.

"How was there honor in hurting some innocent looking creature?" The younger blurted out before he could think better of it; a touch of hostility in his voice as he remembered how scared and beaten up Mikey had been that night.

The fear which Chris and that Xever bastard had put there, and how those big baby blues had stared up at the secret ninja so pleadingly for help that Danny had been unable to give.

It made the shorter males fingernails dig into his arms where he held them folded over his chest. Bradford was rather taken aback by that, but it was expected, as his cousin had such a sunny view of the world and all.

"He wasn't as innocent as you seem to think he is. Besides, we weren't really after him. We were using the freak as bait to help us find someone who deserved to be punished." The dark brunet lied; disliking having to, but wanting so much for Danny to see him as the good guy again.

The secret Guardian in training regarded him. He'd known Mikey for a while, and though it hadn't been that long, there was no doubt in his mind that the turtle was good. Chris on the other hand, had been lying to him for years about all sorts of stuff; some of which Danny knew about or figured out.

Not that Danny didn't have his own secrets, but at least his didn't involve things like the murdering of a cute ninja turtle and his family. "If he was so evil, why was it your friend that attacked and tried to kill me, instead of him?" Danny countered; trying to keep his voice even and quiet so anyone who came in wouldn't hear.

They continued talking for a while after that, as Daniel tried to reason with him that what Chris did was wrong and that he was on the wrong side. While Chris did his best to convince the other that that wasn't true, and that the people he was involved with were honorable, and that what he was doing was necessary.

Realizing that they were at an impasse, Chris expressed with a heavy sigh to the other that he wished Daniel would understand that he wasn't the bad guy in all of this. The ash-brunet replied in kind that he wanted for that to be the case too.

But Danny went on to say that they both seemed to view the situation in different lights, so maybe they just shouldn't hang out for a while, because Danny needed time to reevaluate things since it was clear Chris wasn't the person he thought he was.

Bradford told the other that he was still the same old Chris, not wanting the other to shun him aside; like a dog who'd gone and chewed up all the furniture or done something its owner didn't approve of.

It just wasn't fair. After all he'd done to try and remain close to his beloved cousin, and now Danny was upset with him, and didn't want to be around him because of that stupid orange banded turtle!

But Danny was firm on the fact that either the other needed to get out of the mess that was badly influencing him or just give him space. And so, seeing as he couldn't quit the Foot clan or tell Daniel about it, he lamented and left the shop before those heart wrenchingly disappointed golden brown eyes made Chris feel any worse than he already did.

The henchman's bitter resentment for Michelangelo grew to a whole new level because he blamed Mikey for his current predicament with Danny. And as he went to go and do a rough bout of training to work out his frustrations by beating up some newbie recruits that would be used as cannon fodder anyway, Bradford knew he would be imagining his targets to look like that stupid turtle.

Meanwhile, Akira was having to deal with a pest of her own. It had all started not too long ago, when Aki began working part-time for her grandfather Mr. Murakami. She offered to work there under the guise of wanting to earn some pocket money, but was really doing it to look out for Mr. Murakami.

The lovely brunette had heard that the 24/7 restaurant sometimes received unpleasant visits from the Purple Dragon gang for protection money or because they felt like being jerks about something.

While there was a limit to what Akira could do in terms of protecting her grandpa from the scoundrels, in regards to both fighting them off and the fact that she could only be there but so much what with school and her Guardian duties.

She had learned from both her cousin Haruhi and her grandpa that subtlety could be a powerful thing. For example; dumping a hot liquid like soup or tea on them, and then hitting them with her serving tray, and making it out like she was just a lethal klutz rather than a devious kunoichi.

Her work uniform consisted of a white kimono and a blue hakama, with white tobi socks, tan sandals and a red sash around the waist; which only added to how cute she looked already.

And was quite useful in earning good tips, whether she smiled or not. Though her grandpa taught her that it was surprising how useful something as simple as a well placed smile could be.

Both Mr. Murakami and Haruhi taught her many such useful and crafty skills, as they were a lot smarter than they let on from people underestimating them for the way they looked and so on. And she'd always respected them for possessing such awesome guile, while still being such good people.

Though no one had told her grandpa about her and most of her family being secret ninjas, she had a feeling he at least had an inkling. But thankfully he never said anything or asked. He knew his granddaughter had secrets, and that sometimes it was best that they remain as such.

But Akira digressed… After having thwarted the three lamebrain goons of the Purple Dragon gang multiple times with her clever little ways, their boss apparently got fed up with all of their excuses and lies as to why they couldn't seem to get money from a blind man; being too embarrassed to tell him the real reason they couldn't get it.

Their boss was a tall Brazilian man in his early twenties, named Xever. He was a skilled thief and one of the Shredder's top henchmen. Though Akira only knew him to be a thug and the leader of the Purple Dragons, since the three goons usually mentioned the name in enough context that it was kinda obvious.

Xever came in one day with his three goons in tow, to see just why his minions couldn't collect on the old man, when he ended up stopping dead at the sight of the stunning young beauty; who turned to smile sweetly and greet him.

As soon as his men saw her, the three of them tried to hide behind him like scared school girls. But he didn't notice them. He was too focused on the striking server girl before him.

"Konichiwa." She welcomed with a polite bow. "How may I help you?" The cocky thug wasn't expecting to react that way, and ended up gawking at her for a moment, before composing himself and remembering how to breath.

Hmmm… Maybe his men weren't able to get the money because gazing upon the bluish green eyed angel made them forget what they were supposed to do? Seemed plausible to him, as he was in much the same state.

"I, er, I am here to-" He began a tad uncertainly as he tried to recall his purpose for being there. "Have some dinner?" She cut in in a tone of offering help that he couldn't get mad at.

"Well, not exactly…" Xever reached up to rub the back of his head; used to being the one swooned over, rather than swooning over someone else. His men glanced at each other as they tried not to look at Akira; having their own reasons they wanted to avoid her.

"Oh, perhaps just something to drink then? Well by all means, Sir. Please come right this way." Akira said in that smooth, softly Asian accented voice of hers as she held out her hand to gesture to a table in a polite gesture like a proper server.

Xever blinked and then figured what the heck, and went to take a seat. He gave a sharp glare to his men to follow suit, and they did so; being caught between the fearful respect they had for him and the knowledge of what the brunette might do to them.

"What would you like to drink?" Akira asked; knowing to focus her attention on the man in charge, as was both polite and tactful. "Whatever you recommend will be fine, though not as fine as you, I'm sure." The tall, wiry man flirted shamelessly as he gave her a charming smile.

"As you like." Akira said; her working smile never faltering as she turned to go and fetch a tray of Oolong tea and cups. Though Xever did notice how her eyes seemed to brighten oddly when he left the choice up to her.

He rather liked it, and liked to think his compliment had something to do with it as well. Unfortunately for him, he didn't recognize that glint as one of mischief. "Oh geez… We're gonna die." The bulky looking goon named Sid whispered nervously to Tsoi and Fong.

"Shhh! Shut up or the boss'll be the one we gotta worry about." The skinny thug named Fong shushed in an urgent tone. All three giving their boss nervous smiles to try and pretend all was well.

Xever rolled his eyes at their stupidity as he waited for the sweet angel to return; his arms and legs crossed coolly as he sat at the little booth across from the three incompetents.

It didn't take long, and soon Akira was coming back with a tray of tea and cups for them. The three minions braced themselves as they sat up straight. Xever watched raptly as the brunette moved gracefully, like he'd seen the servers do in Japan during one of his visits there when Shredder required his assistance.

"You do that quite well, _Bela_ (Beautiful)." The spindly martial artist remarked in that silky baritone of his; leaning forward on the palm of his hand as he rested his elbow on the table to get closer to her as she leaned over slightly to pour the tea.

"Thank you, Sir… but my name is not Bela." Akira replied in kind; her tone still amiable, as she seemed unfazed by his flattery. Normally his charm worked on most women, but the fact that it did not on this lovely flower only further intrigued the ruthless young man.

His smile widened and he chortled lightly. "Heheh, no, no. It means _beautiful_ in my language." Xever was pleased to see that this at least caused her to pause in her pouring; those deep bluish emeralds shifting to spare him a curiously glance.

"Oh…" Aki looked thoughtful for a moment, then closed her eyes in a brief yet bright smile and she told him as sweetly as ever "Thank you." that made the street hardened thug swallow hard and feel like his heart just skipped a freakin' beat; as for some reason the sexy server seemed to have a sparkly romantic lavender background with sparkles and bubbles when she smiled like that. Or maybe it was just in his mind.

Though Akira was playing her part as a good server like she'd been taught to do, for the sake of lulling the four known degenerates into a false sense of security in case she needed to deal with them, she had to admit that she found this Xever fellow to be somewhat interesting, and not at all like the three morons that were with him. Even if she didn't think much of his brazen and slightly creepy way of hitting on her.

"N-no problem." The ravenet couldn't believe he'd just stuttered. Though he had to admit he was feeling in really good spirits around the amiable brunette. "I'm Xever by the way. And by what name may I call a _delicate flower _such as yourself?" He asked as she finished pouring the tea; enjoying her close proximity as she leaned down slightly to pour some into his cup.

'_Mmmm_…' Xever thought as his eyes closed briefly when he moved close enough toward the tasty scent that was coming from her. She smelled sweetly of tea and some sort of floral fragrance; like chamomile and cherry blossoms.

"Akira." The tactful teenager informed as she tried not to make a creeped out face at noticing how he was smelling her, and giving the brunette a look like she was some kind of dessert on the menu, as he leered lewdly at her through half hooded eyes.

"_Akira_…" He tried out the name; delighting in the delicious way it rolled off his tongue. "A name that pales only in comparison to the one who holds it." Xever said in a way that sounded more like he was declaring it to the world than simply speaking only to her; being the helpless romantic that he was.

The beguiling brunette had people try to flirt with her and say romantic stuff to her before, but this Xever fellow did it rather well; even if it was a bit too forward. Or at least well enough to make the secret ninja blush a little; her cheeks dusting pale pink.

"How sweet of you to say. Thank you, Xever-san. But I should get back to work now." She made to leave, but a hand covered with a fingerless glove, shot out and wrapped just lightly enough around her forearm to stop her. Aki looked to see it belonged to the Brazilian charmer, and she raised a curious brow.

"Why don't you sit and have a drink with me?" Xever asked politely; though his tone seemed to hold the tiniest air of having an "or else" behind it, that came naturally to him after the life he'd had. Xever really liked how she said his name.

"That is very kind of you, but I must attend to the other customers." Akira curtly declined as she took the hand holding her arm in her free hand and lifted the older humans hand off of her; stepping back while doing so, that way it couldn't easily happen again.

"Oh! Well if that's all that's keeping the pleasure of your company from me…" Xever stated brightly, as the spindly punk stood up and faced the few people who were dining; pulling out one of his butterfly knives and flipping it open with a stylish flourish as his grin turned dark.

"Listen up!" He called loudly to the customers; who stopped what they were doing to listen. "To anyone who does not leave post haste, I shall fillet them like the walking sushi they are, and feed them to Sid over here!" Xever told them in a light yet threateningly dark way as he gestured to Sid with the tip of his knife.

Most of the people there knew who the Purple Dragons were left, and those that saw the others leaving in a panic, chose to follow them; clearing out the noodle shop and leaving only Akira, her grandfather, and the four thugs.

Mr. Murakami knew that his granddaughter could handle them, and knew it was safer for her if he stayed out of the way; even if he wasn't too pleased about it and was gnawed at by worry.

The brunettes grip on the teapot handle tightened as she tried to keep her emotions and powers under control; least there be a blackout and everyone around Aki becoming charbroiled by accident.

"There! Much better now, don't you think, Bela?" The knife wielding maniac inquired cheerfully; almost always in a chipper mood whenever he got what he wanted. Akira quirked an eyebrow and set the teapot on the counter beside her.

"Not really, no. You just cost us business." The brunette pointed out in a less than pleased manner as her smile fell to a flat look with her hands on her hips; though her cool composure and tone remained in tact.

Xever had to laugh some at that. "Hahah! Beautiful _and_ feisty? My, aren't you full of surprises, Bela?" He delighted, as he twirled his knife idly while his dark eyes roamed up and down Akira's petite countenance like a hungry piranha that just spied a lovely little fish either brave or foolish enough to tread in its waters.

His long legs quickly closed the distance between them as he strolled right up to the pretty petite to loom over her. She stood her ground, not so much as flinching as he invaded her personal space like most people in her position usually did . _Good_. Weaklings like his goons were irksome bores to the smooth criminal.

He reached up a hand and cupped her chin with those long, adroit fingers of his; bending down so that their faces were only about four or five inches apart, as he gazed romantically (or so he thought) into those radiant blue-green pools of hers.

"What say you and I go someplace more…heh, _comfortable_, while my guys collect what the old man owes me?" As Xever continued to brazenly chat her up, he gave the three minions a gesture with a flick of his blade for them to get to work; not realizing that Mr. Murakami and Akira were related.

They did as ordered, but still seemed weary of the brunette; and flinched visibly when her dark eyes flickered over to them for a split second, before her focus turned back to the cocky jerk in front of her. She'd put up with him and his flirting for the sake of her grandpa, but _no one _messed with her family.

It happened so quick, Xever hadn't expected the brunette to suddenly duck down and foot sweep him; sending the thug reeling backwards and loosening his grip on his knife. And as he fell down, Aki moved up and grabbed the weapon from him as she grabbed him by the hand and threw him towards the wall near the entrance.

"That _old guy_, as you so crassly put it…" Akira told the devilish degenerate as he hit the wall and slumped down to the floor; stunned and in pain, though more shocked by it all than anything. Who knew a little thing like that could move so fast, much less have moves like that at all?!

"Is my _grandfather_. And I'd much rather you took your fellow creeps and left our shop, before I have to _make_ you." She continued in that spooky cool tone of hers; the minions having quickly backed the heck up from her grandfather before they even made it halfway.

"I knew it! I knew she wasn't just some klutzy chick!" Tsoi exclaimed as he freaked out with the other two. The three idiots having suffered every time they came to get money from her granddad via scolding hot things being poured or dumped on them, or slipping and falling from a well placed bump, or getting burned or hit, or almost cut or decapitated with things.

And all manner of other torments the sweet and innocent looking young woman put them through. All while pretending it was all some sort of innocent accident. "Tea, gentlemen?" Akira threatened sweetly as she acted like she was reaching for the teapot while dropping the butterfly knife beside it.

"I'm outta here man!" Fong cried out, before he and his fellow scumbags left out of there like their pants were on fire; which had actually been the case one of the times they'd dropped by. Xever clutched at his forehead as he stood up and shot her an annoyed glare; his head having hit the wall first and being in quite a bit of pain.

"Full of enough surprises for you, am I, Xever-san?" Akira mocked affably, with a devilish little smirk of her own that gave him pause. And that moment of hesitation gave her the advantage she needed, as her fingers closed around the handle of the teapot and she hurled it, and all its piping hot contents at him.

Xever held up his arms to try and knock it away; getting some of the scalding hot liquid splattered on his front and arms and grunting in pain as he tried to swat it off, before he moved to counter the attack with one of his own.

But no sooner had he lowered his arms, did the ravenet realize it was a distraction. And the real attack was dealt to his face with a freakin' cooking wok! As soon as Akira had tossed the teapot, her grandfather very helpfully handed her one of his large metal woks. Which she was currently using to mercilessly wail on the rude jerk.

Not wanting to give Xever a chance to retaliate like Kaia had once told her; as Xever was taller and could possibly pose a threat if given a chance. And Akira didn't want to find out since she couldn't fight at full strength.

So she made good use of her fighting skills without overdoing it and letting on that she was more than just some teenager who was defending herself and her grandfather, and beat the crap outta the guy with a wok until he was barely conscious.

The brutal beauty loomed over him as he lay barely coherent on the floor of the shop; a cold-hearted look upon her sweet face that could rival one of his own. And even in his jacked up state, Xever still couldn't help thinking it somehow mad her even hotter than before, as he was beginning to respect her.

She knelt down, wok still in hand, and with her free one, she reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out his wallet; which she'd taken while he had been cupping her face earlier.

Akira tossed it aloofly at him and it fell on his chest. "Don't worry. I only took enough to cover the tea and my tip. Which was _quite_ generous. I must thank you for that." The tricky teen informed with a foxy smirk.

"Now, before you go, I want you to know that I could just kill you. But unlike the rest of the world, I'm going to give you a chance. If I see you or any of your goons around here to bother my grandfather again, you will regret it, Xever-san." The brunette told him in that cool, warning tone.

And with what she'd wanted to say out of the way, she raised up the metal pan, and struck him one last hard blow; knocking him out for the count. Akira went to make sure her grandfather was okay first, before getting rid of the ravenet by taking him and leaving him outside of the emergency room of a hospital in case he needed medical attention; which he did.

Since then, the Foot clan henchman had made occasional visits to the noodle shop just to see her. It seemed the none too sane, sadomasochistic Brazilian quite relished how well she had handled herself, and had bested him; as it had been a while since that had happened. And for that, the young man admired her more for her foxy moxie.

Of course, even though he had a growing level of respect for her, Xever liked to sit back and admire her for _entirely_ different reasons. But his reasons altogether made Akira quite a catch in his eyes. And he intended to try and ensnare the stubborn sylph if it was the last thing he did.

As he wasn't trying to get money from her grandfather anymore, and paid for whatever he ordered; even if he sometimes did so with a grumble, Aki didn't mind him showing up. At least until he started flirting with her and ogling her. Then she had to admit it was a little disturbing and irksome; though mildly flattering the brunette supposed.

Much like he currently was, while sitting at his favorite corner booth in the restaurant; as he could see the clever little brunette wherever she went. Xever liked bringing in fresh fish and giving it to Mr. Murakami to prepare for him.

He had to admit, apart from getting to see Akira while she was working, visiting the place had other appeal to it as well. Turned out the old guy was a phenomenal cook. And he made the tastiest fish dishes; which Xever liked best anyway.

It wasn't out of the norm for him to try and get Akira to eat with him, or just sit down and allow him the pleasure of her company. Not that she would, mind you. Aki was busy working. She didn't want to sit or eat with him anyway, as Aki didn't trust the guy as far as she could throw him.

Her noncompliance only seemed to amuse him though; what with her being such a fun challenge and all. Apart from having nearly beaten him to death with a piece of cookware, the street thug turned henchman found that the young lady was never rude to him like most others were; even if she had every right to be.

But at the same time, Akira wasn't a suck up or pushover either, and he liked how refreshing it was to meet someone with strong yet sly personality. It reminded him a bit of himself.

And so long as he didn't bother her grandfather, Xever was always welcomed in the same, sweet way that she'd first greeted him; as if nothing bad had occurred between them.

Had it been anyone else, he would've reigned hell down upon the place. But since that was not the case, the ravenet got to hang around a homey place, with good food and comely company, with fun snippets of conversation when he managed to get her to talk to him.

Time passed, and Akira tried to work and put up with the random lines the smooth criminal threw her way; which ranged from light and sweet to downright propositioning and sometimes elicited a blush from her. A pleasing reaction which only encouraged Xever's flirtatious behavior.

But after gaining knowledge of the four terrapins existence and seeing how well her teammates got along with them, the brunette occasionally couldn't help wondering how all her other friends seemed to luck out and get a nice turtle friend, while Akira got hooked with some womanizing eel.

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

**I know it may seem like a simple matter to disown a member of your family for some people, but I know from experience that no matter how horrible a relative might be, even if they've tried to kill you or screw you over on more than one occasion (whether conscious of it or otherwise), they'll always be in your life in some way or another. The closer you are to that person, the harder it is to get away from them** **and dislike or hate them, as you can never truly do it.**

**. And it also varies on the relatives and their relationship(s). LoL And especially so in Danny's case since Chris is all hung up on him like the evil ninja whackjob he is.**

**Also, so psyched to have finally gotten a real chance to write my OC Akira! XD She's so much fun! I love writing Xever too. X3 He just seems like a weird/twisted guy with a romantic side from what I gathered from watching the series. And if you think the way Xever ends up becoming more attracted to Akira because she stood up to him and such is weird, I don't think it is because I've made a lot of friends that way. XD I mean, I didn't get violent with a wok, but yeah. I love throwing in rivals. X3 You never know who'll win until it's written. Kuwahahahahahah!**


	17. The Status Quo Combustion

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Another update during such a busy time of the year! XD Hazzah for holidays! Anywho! Thanks to all you have read and reviewed, they make me smile! **

**And also I wanted to say that, please keep in mind that April was _literally_ the first person that Donatello had ever seen (even Raph says "Isn't she the ONLY girl you've ever seen?" Lmmfao I mean c'mon!) so in my mind, the turtles don't have much to go on in terms of knowing about their own sexualities and are rather new to almost everything the surface world, and the world in general, has to offer. ****I mean, just look at how they reacted to pizza. XD So yeah, I like to think that leaves the turtles open to all sorts of fun and creative ways for me to weave my tale. X3 And also my reasoning that Donnie might've simply fallen for April _because_ she was literally the first girl he had ever seen, rather than having any other real reason to be attracted to her, which is why when he and my OC Jenny met, he couldn't help but find her attractive in a whole other, and to Donnie, unexpected way. At least in my mind and fic(s). LoL**

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><p><strong>"The Status Quo Combustion"<strong>

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><p>For the next few days they chatted on and off, as Jenny would reply via her mobile device during the parts of the day she had the time to. And Donnie would reply as soon as he could; his own training and projects, and so forth permitting. He'd even managed, much to his brothers shock, to have become just a little bit less frantic about the whole "finding April's dad" thing. Which, they were all glad for really.<p>

He also had to spend some time with his brothers so they wouldn't start teasing him about liking some other girl. They already hassled him enough about his liking April. Speaking of which, April STILL hadn't accepted his friend request.

And every chance he got to ask her about it when she came over, the ginger always found some way to avoid answering, or would just say she forgot, or was busy, or that she hardly even used the silly thing.

Or that he didn't need to chat with her on the site because she visited them in person so often. Though Donnie hated to admit it, he was steadily starting to grow annoyed with her answers and evasions as it was rather hurtful. But there wasn't much he could do about it but deal with it.

In truth, April had no interest in accepting Donnie's friend request because she just KNEW he'd blow up her phone with messages and probably photos of cats hugging or something, and try to use it as a way to push his feelings on her.

Yeah both April and Jenny could tell he was crushing on the ginger pretty badly. But it kind of creeped April out. No offense to Donnie. He was nice and all, and had he been human and not such a stuttering geeky mutant turtle, the ginger might've… probably, sorta returned his feelings. _Maybe._ And that was a pretty big maybe if she was being honest.

But April preferred a guy who was more the strong type; like maybe a male version of Jenny… One who was human and somewhat normal. At least more normal than mutant turtles that lived in a stinking sewer. The ginger didn't mind being friends, but she drew the line there.

What with how he and his brothers went out on patrol almost every night; trying to find out more about the Kraang and where they were keeping April's dad, Donnie didn't get as much time as he would've liked to spend on his laptop talking to Jenny. NOT that he was still ready to admit he liked talking to her more than April or anything silly like that. Cuz, you know, he _totally_ wasn't. Yeeeeah…

However, much to his annoyance, Mikey had blabbed to Raph about finding Jenny on MyFace and the red banded turtle made a profile so he could talk to her too. Well, mostly Raph preferred to just use it as a means to communicate where to meet up, as Raphael liked actually hanging out with someone in person rather than staring at a computer screen.

Donnie wasn't sure why it bugged him the way it did. Even if it was just somewhat… Maybe it was just because it was Raph, and the fact that the hothead had gotten to know Jenny a bit better than Donnie did. Or that she and his meathead brother seemed to get along so well, despite how _stupid_ and uninterested in science-y things his grumpy sibling was.

Even so, he _should_ be happy Raphael was making friends and talking to someone other than his pet snapping turtle Spike, but it was slowly and steadily becoming more difficult for the brainy turtle…

And the fact that Raph took Spike out to show off to Jenny every once in a while did nothing to help. It was a nice gesture on the red banded ninjas part since Jenny wasn't allowed to come to the laid yet.

Apparently Jenny thought Spike was adorable, and that even April liked him when the ginger came to visit them once at the lair. And Raph quite smugly bragged about this, as he could see it got on his geeky brothers nerves.

"What's the matter, Donnie? Don't like how girls prefer Spike to _your_ ugly mug? Would've thought you'd be used to that by now." Raph teased in his usual way; making the purple banded turtle smolder and scowl, as that was all he could really do against the arrogant amoeba.

Don wished Master Splinter would let him shoot those suction cup arrows at Raph's stupid shell again, the mouthy meathead… Instead, he tried to ignore his annoying older brother and distract himself with working in his lab.

Whenever Jenny was out with them though, Don noticed that she sported a simple black mask that covered the lower half of her face, a pair of slightly worn looking charcoal black cargo pants, a plain black T-shirt, black sneakers and a hooded black and dark grey jacket to replace the hood of her Guardian uniform; all of it comprised from her symbiotic suit.

Donnie had asked her why she chose to dress like that, and Jen explained that it was to help keep her identity a secret from others like the Kraang, so that she wouldn't put her loved ones at risk or anything if she were to get caught.

April thought it was a good idea, but just felt silly when she thought about doing it. The closest she could get to a disguise was wearing a baggy hooded jacket every now and then. The ginger just didn't have the self-confidence Jenny had to do that sort of thing. But she did admire the redhead for it.

Between getting to be on better terms with Jenny, and April avoiding his friend request, he was more determined than ever to get those cell phones constructed. But he didn't exactly have the parts he needed.

And he wasn't having much luck at his usual scavenging spots… As he expressed his woes to Jenny during her lunch period, she got an idea that she hoped might solve his problem.

_Jenny: "If you need parts, I know of a great place you could try. It's basically a military junkyard. They've got some pretty sweet finds."_

_Donatello: "Are you serious?! O.O"_

_Jenny: "Pfft! Like the blueshift. Hey, if you want, we could meet up and I could help. I might be able to find some suitable parts to repair my iPod that got busted."_

_Donatello: "Your brothers handiwork, I take it?"_

_Jenny: "Heh, no. Not this time. I checked and it was due to a poorly constructed chip that had a hairline fracture in it. It ended up basically overheating when I went to charge it the other day and melted all the inner workings. I'm surprised it lasted this long. LOL but you're changing the subject Donnie boy. You wanna go with me, or not?" _Donnie pouted slightly; finding her observant and deductive nature to be both pleasant and a tad annoying at times.

_Donatello: "I am NOT changing the subject. I was just wondering."_

_Jenny: "If you say so. XP" _

_Donatello: "LoL. Wait… Aren't military junkyards guarded? O.o"_

_Jenny: "XD Let me answer your question like this. You do realize that if I can sneak in there to get stuff, it shouldn't be a problem seeing as you're a ninja, right?" _Jen managed to cleverly downplay her skills.

Jenny figured he'd probably agree were that the case. She was starting to like the geeky turtle more than she originally had, and thought it could be fun to go scavenging with a fellow inventor.

_Donatello: "Hmmm… True, but I still don't know." _

_Jenny: "C'mon. It could be fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. ;3"_ The purple banded ninja hated when Jen did things like make those cute little winking faces at him, say playful things or make adorable science jokes. No matter how much he reminded himself that he liked April, it still made him blush a little and feel somewhat flustered.

Yeah, so April was _literally_ the first girl he saw, and though he wasn't quite conscious of this fact yet, that was pretty much the whole reason he'd fallen for her. Sort of makes one wonder what would've happened if he'd seen the kindly redhead first instead of April…

_Donatello: "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to at least look." _Donnie couldn't help wondering what sort of awesome tech-y goodies he might find there and began mentally geeking out. He actually felt rather excited about the prospect of having a better junkyard to scavenge from.

_Jenny: "Sweet! Here's the address." _And after that, they figured out when they could meet to go "shopping" as Jenny called it. The brainy turtle couldn't help but laugh at that. It was pleasantly surprising how good she was at making him laugh.

The next night, Jennifer and Donatello met up on the roof of the Weirdo Video rental store. "How the heck did you get up here?" Donnie couldn't help asking bemusedly. "It wasn't that hard. My family is pretty athletic. Plus, the place beside it had a fire escape. So all I had to do was hop from one roof to the other." Jenny told him nonchalantly with a shrug to match as if it was nothing.

Well, it was a plausible enough answer he supposed. And Raph had mentioned she did a pretty good job of keeping up with him when they hung out; as the turtles mostly traveled by rooftop to keep from being seen.

Plus he had sort of seen the boom happy boffin in action when she went out with them, when she wasn't on the ground with April. Though Jen did do her best to stay close to April to help keep her safe.

The two of them managed to sneak into the military junkyard through a tear in the fence that Jenny knew about from all the trips she'd made to the place. Donnie gazed wide eyed at all the cool looking stuff that had been thrown away.

Jenny saw his eyes all big and glassy and thought he looked like a kid in a candy store with their parents credit card. "Pretty sweet, huh Donnie boy?" The redhead asked smilingly; her arms folded coolly over her chest as she watched him in amusement.

"Y-yeah… You can say that again." Donnie replied breathlessly; moving unconsciously towards one of the mounds of junk. Then his eyes caught something he might be able to use, and with an excited little "Oooo!" he dug into the pile.

Donnie had to admit he was really glad he came, and also that he had brought a duffel bag to carry stuff in. Especially since they found all sorts of awesome stuff. Jenny went through the piles with him; offering him certain things and asking if he could use it, and making suggestions about what it could be used for instead.

In truth, he had snuck over to April's place before meeting up with Jenny to ask the ginger if she wanted to go with them. He had hoped it would be a good excuse to hang out, but April made a grossed out face and told him that digging through garbage wasn't her idea of fun, and no amount of persuading could change her mind on the matter.

And while he had been somewhat bummed about it, he ended up having a really good time scavenging with Jenny. He thought she might be one of those smart girls who would rub their intellect in his face, but she was pretty humble.

Sure, she might joke every once in a while, but he did the same, so even if he wanted to he couldn't fault her for that. And whenever it became apparent that she had upset him somehow, the redhead would be the bigger person and apologize.

"Whoa! Check it out Donnie!" Jenny exclaimed in a quiet voice; as they had to make sure they didn't attract any unwanted attention from security. He raised an eyebrow; wondering what it was that made her sound so psyched.

And when she held it out to him and he took it to look at, he couldn't help geeking out over it too. "No way! Do you know what this is?!" He asked; used to everyone not knowing and not expecting an answer.

"Shhhyeah! It's an A.I. microchip made from self-assembled chain-linked copolymers!" Jenny replied just as giddily as she leaned in to better examine it. His jaw dropped where he crouched down beside her; staring at the redet in astonishment.

"Y-yeah… I-it is…!" He couldn't believe she knew what it was! "That's like my _favorite_ type of copolymer!" She practically gushed in a way that reminded Donatello a bit of himself, and being both shocked and sharing in her jubilation, as it was his favorite copolymer too.

"Wow. It looks pretty advanced too. Just look at the design and material. Whoever threw this out must have done it by mistake. Heh, oh well, their loss, our gain, right Donnie?… Uh, Donnie?" She quirked a brow; wondering if he was okay.

He was just kinda… _staring_ at her, looking like the hamster in his brain wheel stopped running and he couldn't figure out why. The brainy turtle gave himself a mental and physical shake. "I'd say so." He managed to say lamely. He couldn't believe they liked the same type of copolymer.

"Hmm… So what're you gonna do with it?" At her question, he blinked. "Oh, well, I-I don't know." He put a finger to his chin in thought. "I mean, it's pretty advanced. Maybe… you could use it to fix your iPod?" Donatello offered; feeling rather grateful for all the stuff she'd helped him find to begin with.

He really should let her have this chip as thanks. Even if it was _super_ cool and he _really_ wanted it; whether he knew what to do with it or not. Jenny was a bit taken aback by the others thoughtfulness, but not really.

She knew he tried very hard to be a thoughtful guy when it came to April. Jen was just surprised he was being so towards her. Maybe they really did have a chance at being friends, she thought hopefully.

With a soft smile, she gently took the extended hand he had out towards her to offer the chip, and closed his three fingers around it. "As much as I appreciate that, and I _really_ do by the way; that thing looks really awesome. But that's a bit too much tech for my little iPod." She reasoned with a light chortle.

He felt his face warm a little at the sudden contact. Her hand felt _soooo_ _soft _and _warm_… But shrugged it off and tried to push the thought away, as he pulled his hand slowly away from hers. "I guess you have a point… But I don't really know what I could do with it."

"Heh, oh I'm sure you'll think of something." Jenny told him; sounding both amused and confident he'd be able to come up with a use for it. He was a genius like her. Of course he'd figure out something.

Don couldn't help smiling too, and tucked the chip safely away before thanking her. They spent some more time riffling through stuff before leaving to head home. On the way, they chatted about all their sweet finds.

Jen had managed to find some suitable chips she might be able to use; but she'd have to wait until she got home to test them out. And Donatello found plenty of useful stuff to start working on those cell phones.

She told him it wasn't really a big surprise her iPod ended up failing on her, seeing as she'd found it during one of her "shopping" trips to a junkyard. It was amazing the things people threw out…

Being a gentleman, as that was how he was raised, he offered to see her home safely. Donnie thought it was the polite thing to do for any girl or friend. But… But NOT a girlfriend… cuz she totally wasn't. Jenny thought it was sweet as she smiled and replied. "Well, I wouldn't want to be any trouble, but I'd certainly appreciate the company, if you think you can keep up."

He grinned toothily and nodded. "Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem." And with that, she headed over to a fire escape and scaled up it like she was part monkey or something.

Of course she was trying to tone down her skills, but even so, he couldn't help thinking that with some training she might make a good kunoichi. He followed her after she asked if he was coming up or going to just stand there all night.

Donnie was a bit perplexed by her choice in direction; having thought he'd be ducking and dodging the whole way. "We'll travel this way since it's safer for you." Jenny smiled before taking a running jump and landing on the opposite rooftop.

The brainy ninja stared in awe at her consideration for a moment, before shaking his head and following her. "How did you do that?" She shrugged. "Same way you did I guess." Jenny then smirked and took off again, and he continued to chase after her as they traveled by roof toward her home.

"Heh, I did tell you my family was pretty athletic. Plus I've gotten in some good practice hanging out with you and your brothers." Jenny told him. "Oh… Right." He frowned slightly at the mention of his brothers.

They did like to chat with her on the site as well. Even Leo got to talk to her sometimes while using Mikey's profile. Their leader didn't see much point in having a profile of his own as he wasn't on it often. Like Raph he preferred to be around people rather than computers.

As they traveled and conversed, Donnie couldn't help but feel a bit like showing off his cool ninja moves. He knew his brothers probably did, and he didn't want her thinking he was lame and end up telling that to April.

At least that was how his mind reasoned it; trying not to admit it was because he didn't want Jenny herself to think he was uncool. What he hadn't been expecting was for her to show off some of her own moves; which he had to admit, was rather impressive for a human with no prior training.

His competitiveness towards his brothers, and not wanting to seem boring compared to them faded pretty quickly, as the two of them began having fun; laughing and enjoying their game of smack talking the other with stuff like "Oh yeah? Well check this out!" type of attitude.

But when she stopped a couple of blocks from where she lived, and told him she could take it from there, Donnie couldn't believe he actually felt rather disappointed. He didn't see why he should… But they had been having quite a bit of fun. Maybe that was why.

"Thanks for seeing me home. Or partly there, as it were. That was really nice of you." She smiled softly; her hands behind her back with one hand on her forearm. "You're very welcome, Jenny." He replied; feeling a tad sheepish and rubbing the back of his head at the compliment.

Jenny turned to leave, but the brainy turtle couldn't help calling out "W-wait!" as he felt there was something he needed to get off his chest. She stopped and turned back to him with a look of concern. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, it's just…" He trailed off, not quite sure how to say what it was he knew he should've said a long time ago. But she was patient and waited to hear what it was he had to say.

Donatello took a deep, slightly shaky breath to steady himself. "I…" He began, staring down at his feet and feeling a tad ashamed. "Um… I just wanted to say I'm sorry." The turtle apologized sincerely and almost too quietly for her to hear.

She frowned in bemusement. "What are you apologizing for?" He gave a slight scowl that he hadn't been clearer and mentally kicked himself, before he closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his sides.

"For… the other night, when I… when I…" But Donatello couldn't quite bring himself to say what it was, as truth be told, he had been feeling pretty bad about it since they'd become friends and he began to see Jenny as more than just a means of getting closer to April.

Jenny regarded him for a moment, and then decided to try helping him out as she began to get a sense of what this was all about. "For when you… attacked me that one time?" She felt bad for having asked when she saw him flinch and then begrudgingly nod his head.

"Oh…" The redhead was a bit surprised her fellow geek was upset about that, as he hadn't seemed it at the time. Apparently becoming on friendly terms with him must've caused a sense of guilt to set in or something.

The turtle felt like such an idiot for having brought it up, and at the same time for not having properly apologized to her sooner. He knew he'd said sorry when it happened, but he hadn't meant it and he was sure Jen knew that. And that was what bothered him.

Donnie gave a slight start when he felt a pair of soft, soothingly warm hands come to rest gingerly on his shoulders, and his reddish brown eyes opened to peer up and see that Jenny had come up to him and offered the comforting gesture to the troubled teenage terrapin.

"Hey, it's okay. I forgive you, Donnie." Jen told him; a sweet smile was on her delicate face that was as gentle as her voice. It made the geeky turtle unconsciously swallow hard and feel his face heat up; his heart feeling like it was beating faster than it normally did.

"R-really…?" He dared to ask; wondering what had come over him and why it was suddenly a little difficult to breath. Her eyes closed halfway in beautiful green crescents of amusement; finding his sudden shyness and sincerity to be rather cute, and having forgiven him a long time ago when she saw he was really a nice guy trying to protect his little brother.

"Yeah. Really. I understand why you did it. So… let's just forget it happened, m'kay?" She assured genially, and he felt himself shyly smiling slightly as he nodded; feeling both relieved and grateful, since April got mad and stayed mad at him for smaller stuff than that. Like his near constant inquiring about the friend request issue.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds, just smiling at one another as the tension ebbed. Then Jenny chuckled lightly and gave one of his shoulders a reassuring pat before stepping back.

"Now that that's taken care of… Make sure you get home safe, okay?" She said; feeling a light shade of pink faintly dusting her own face and thinking it best to head home while the moment between them was still pleasant.

Having thoroughly enjoyed their night out, and not wanting for anything to ruin it, Jenny knew it was best to leave. Even if she did feel somewhat hesitant to do so, what with how cute and vulnerable the blushing turtle looked…

Donnie gave a tentative nod. "Well, goodnight Donnie." The genial redhead bayed good-naturedly. And then, Jen gave him a playful wink, before she took off in the direction of her place.

"G-goodnight, Jenny." He couldn't help the stuttering as he watched her lithe body move so swiftly out of sight; his face heated from the blush that still stained his olive green skin.

Then he realized what he was doing and gave himself another shake. Donnie berated himself for being stupid and awkward, and everything else. _'I… I like __**April**__!' _The stubborn turtle kept telling himself. He shouldn't be looking at some other girl. It was stupid… HE was being stupid.

On his way back to the lair, and after much internal self scolding, he yawned tiredly, so the brainy turtle decided he probably just needed to get some sleep. That should fix whatever was wrong with him. Yeah, he was probably just tired from their exciting and fruitful adventure to that awesome military junkyard.

It had nothing to do with the _creamy, smooth _flesh of those slender hands that felt impossibly nice against his skin. Or how Donnie had almost gotten lost in those limpid green pools. And _definitely _not because of how sad and lonely he'd felt at the redheaded humans sudden departure…

Donnie gave a exasperated groan and buried his face into his pillow to try and keep from replaying the whole scene over and over in that genius mind of his, and its accursedly accurate memory, as the mental self berating began anew.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**LoL! Internal conflict of the emotional, physical (if yah know what I mean ;D) AND mental kind. Poor Donnie. But eh, it happens to us all at some point. To wanna date the cheerleader but end up falling for the hot geeky girl even more because you ACTUALLY have things in common besides looks and the fact that you saw the cheerleader first. DUN DUN DUUUUUN! ~Falls over laughing.~ **

**Anywho, thanks for reading! See yah next chapter. ;3**


	18. I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Based on the episode with the same name ya'll! XD Booyakasha! Remember, if you like this fic then please show your support by reviewing! I do so enjoy seeing nice reviews! ^_^ And you know who you are. **

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><p><strong>"I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman"<strong>

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><p>After a few days, Donatello and his brothers ended up getting into some trouble with Master Splinter because Mikey was skateboarding in the lair, and Donnie <em>maaaaaay<em> or may not have built him a pretty cool ramp…

But when they were grounded for a week, they ended up getting bored. So very… VERY bored. Donnie went to go tinker around in his lab. By now, Master Splinter knew that he and his brothers liked chatting on MyFace with Jenny, and Mikey with Danny. Although Splinter and everyone but Donnie thought it was Jenny.

And because of that, Splinter had taken Donnie's laptop away for the week. Mikey would've been more upset about not being able to talk to his bestest best human bud Danny, but the ash-brunet had recently lent Mikey a few of his comics, so the youngest turtle was keeping busy with those.

Donatello on the other hand spotted that awesome A.I. chip Jen had found and let him have, and was trying to figure out what to do with it. He remembered her saying how the chip was a bit too much for an iPod, but the brainy turtle couldn't help wondering if she was wrong.

And so, thus was born… THE TPOD! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! Which Mikey ended up getting to test. Don had hoped to show it off to Jenny, and let her try it out instead when he had the chance, to show her how cool it was and that she had been incorrect in assuming it wouldn't do her iPod any good.

Buuuuuuut, if she reacted well to it, he was considering letting her have it, because he was a good sport like that. Don tried to tell himself that it had absolutely nothing to do with the weird yet wonderful little fluttering Donnie got in his stomach every time he thought about how impressed she might be and how happy it might make the redhead if he gave it to her.

If Mikey didn't accidentally break or lose it that is. And it was strange how it still hadn't crossed Donatello's mind to give it as a present to April. Before he had gotten to know the riveting redette, Donnie would've normally thought of offering any of his cool inventions to April.

But ever since their "shopping trip" in the military junkyard, Jenny was the first person who came to mind when he finished the Tpod, and was the one he couldn't help thinking about while he had been working on it; though _why_, Donnie wasn't entirely sure, but that figured maybe it was simply because he and Jen had a quite a bit in common so far.

The tallest terrapin couldn't help huffing in frustration at not being able to find out sooner what Jenny's reaction would've been, whether he admitted it or not, which he was still being rather stubborn about.

Unfortunately, the redhead had been right to assume it was too much tech. For the Tpod ended up in the hands of some twit named Baxter Stockman; who used it to upgrade his robotic armor and wreak havoc upon part of the city. So it ended up getting trashed during the battle to stop him when he became the Stockmanpod.

"And, and, hahah, then on our way to the lair; Leo gives the Tpod to Donnie, and he practically starts _bawling_ and not paying attention to where he's going, and he slips and falls in the _sewage_! Ahahahahahah!" Raphael exclaimed as he leaned back; roaring with laughter as he regaled April and Jenny with what had happened.

Since they weren't grounded anymore for stopping Stockman, and had recovered from all the Randori that Splinter had put them through for lying, the four turtles went to go visit their two human friends and eat pizza up on the roof of April's place since her aunt was out.

As usual, April had called Jenny and persuaded her to come over; even if Jen wasn't fond of the idea of being a buffer between her and Donnie… But Casey was going to be late at practice with some guy friends of his and she liked to leave him be when that happened.

Besides, she would get to hang out with the turtles; something the redette was beginning to enjoy the more she got to know them. Especially since they apparently had some grand tale to tell them about their misadventure with Baxter Stockman.

Jenny was wearing her usual disguise; keeping her hood up while her mask was down so she could eat her slice of pizza. She was sitting Indian style beside April and across from Donnie, who had Raph sitting beside him.

Leo was on the other side of April and Mikey was between Donnie and Jenny so that they were in a sort of semi-circle. There was only about a little more than the length of a pizza box between the clever redhead and the brainy turtle.

April tried not to laugh as she held up her hand to her mouth to try and stifle it, but Jenny merely frowned. Although Jen knew Raphael didn't mean any harm since her brother liked to tease her in a similar way, that didn't mean the boffin approved of the way it was obviously distressing Donnie since to the redhead, he seemed sensitive like Mikey.

"Why were you so upset about the Tpod being busted?" Jennifer asked as she looked to Donnie; who abashedly had his reddened face in his hands to try and hide from the way Raph was embarrassing him in front of April and Jenny.

He peered up through his fingers; a little taken aback. Don had figured she would've laughed like April, but was rather relieved that she didn't… "Oh, well, you remember th-that A.I. chip we found?" She nodded; while April raised an eyebrow wondering what they were talking about.

"Uhm… I kinda used it to make the Tpod…" He trailed off; wincing as he closed his eyes and prepared for her to mock and berate him for having been so stupid and not listening to her as April and usually his brothers (mostly Raph) were prone to do. But all he heard was a soft, albeit an exasperated sigh.

"I did try to tell you, Donnie boy, that thing is too much tech for listening to music." Jen began as he peeked open one eye. But then he opened the other and eyed her bemusedly when she place her hand on his shoulder and smiled warmly.

"But I don't care about that. I'm just glad you and your brothers are okay. Besides! You're bound to come across some bugs with any invention. Heh, trial and error, and all that." Jenny told him cheerfully; lowering her hand from his shoulder to where it had been.

Donnie was too taken aback to realize his cheeks were dusted pink. But he smiled and thanked her for not getting mad or anything. "No problem." The cool and usually collected (when she wasn't geeking out) human told him. Raph rolled his eyes; having hoped she would've helped rib Mr. Smartypants.

Though, he guessed she had a point. And it _had_ cheered Donnie up from his sulking about the ruined Tpod and chip inside of it. Mikey aww'd at how well Jen and Donnie were getting along, but got a smack upside the back of his head from Don; whose blush darkened as he told Mikey to shut up.

Jenny couldn't help covering her mouth as she giggled, and the tallest terrapin couldn't help smiling shyly and feeling his mood warm again as his gaze met her smiling face.

Don reached up and rubbed the back of his head, and then blinked as he watched Jenny reach over and offer Mikey a gentle pat on the head and another slice of pizza, and how the redhead lightly chuckled again when the lively ninja perked right up.

Though the purple banded terrapin couldn't help feeling a tad jealous that his little brother was getting such attention from Jen, Don couldn't help but be glad that she cared enough to cheer both he and Mikey up the way that she did.

A certain red banded turtle couldn't help but notice all of this, as April and Leo were busy conversing about how they were going to continue their search when they were done eating.

Raph smirked to himself, as he was sure that both geeks were undoubtedly oblivious to the chemistry between them. But all he could do was drop a hint every now and then. Far be it from him to play matchmaker like some overly romantic girl.

Raph had his own problems to deal with in regards to matters of the heart. Though, as seemed to be a family trait, the hothead was pretty stubborn about acknowledging his own growing attraction for the lovely orangette.

The vexed turtle told himself lies to try and make himself like her less, as he had many reasons for doing so. One being that he doubted a gal like that could ever be interested in a sewer dwelling mutant like him…

Like how he and Kaia were barely even friends and hardly knew each other. Or that the cocky woman was annoying and that Raph had better things to do than bother with her and her attempts to help him get his anger issues under control.

Although… he had to admit that since he'd started hanging out with Jen and the secret assassin, the grumpy ninja hadn't been as, well, grumpy. Though Jen acted as a buffer, he and Kaia were beginning to talk a little more. And she even offered to spar with him sometime if he felt like he needed to physically vent.

Which, while he inwardly was appreciative of the offer since the orangette was obviously more capable than he first assumed, Raphael still didn't think engaging in any activity that involved them being so _close_ was a good idea. Who knows how embarrassing that could end up…

They continued to have fun talking about what had happened, with Donnie getting to finally and more _aptly_ tell Jenny all about the Tpod and delighting in how excited the redhead seemed about it, but feeling bad he couldn't have shown it off and given it to the boffin like he had wanted to from the start.

Then it was time for them to split up into groups of three to try searching for April's dad again. Donnie had suggested teams of two and automatically teamed up himself and the ginger haired teen; making Jen and his brothers give a snort of laughter at how predictable he was.

But April said three might be better in case they ran into any trouble. Leo saw the pleading look April was giving him and said they'd do it her way. The blue banded ninja paired up her, Donnie and Jenny; who was as psyched by the idea as Donnie.

Since playing buffer wasn't exactly Jen's idea of a fun night out. She liked Donnie and all, as they were getting to know each other better as friends, but when he was around April he could still act a bit like a jerk and typically ignored her; which the redhead found somewhat bothersome and rude.

At least when Donnie wasn't behaving like a creepy stalker; which was how April described how it made her feel when he practically smothered her with attention and kept trying to touch her, he was a good guy…

But like that A.I. chip, the overeager turtle could be a bit much. So, to help her fellow human friend since she was still trying to find out what April's connection to the Kraang was, Jen did her best to stay between them and try to deflect some of Donnie's attention when he was overwhelming April.

Still, as soon as they parted ways into their two teams and Donatello began chattering intelligently to April to impress her as most of it went over the gingers head, April made that face that made it obvious to everyone but the purple banded turtle that she was annoyed.

And as usual, April began irately texting Jen about how irksome Donnie was being, while Jen tried to keep her from telling the well-meaning terrapin off since it wouldn't bode well for April's friendship with the rest of the turtles.

Though in truth, she could care less about if the turtles liked April or not, as one of the main reasons that the redhead did try to keep April from blowing her proverbial stack, was because Jen had grown a soft spot for the heroes in a half shell and felt a little protective of them.

The boom happy boffin didn't like seeing them upset, and so that sisterly side of her would kick in and do its best to dissuade the ginger girl from hurting their green friends. But as this went on throughout most of their patrol, the redette inwardly sighed, as she got that unfortunately familiar feeling that it was gonna be a looooongnight…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Poor Donnie... I feel bad for him the way the Tpod got trashed like that since he really loves his tech yah know? For those of you who know about how upset he got in that episode "Metalhead Rewired", you probably understand. :3 But at least Jen was there to help cheer him up. Heheheh! **


	19. Metalhead

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Based after the episode of the same name. And it's also longer than my last chapter! BOOYAKASHA! LoL **

**Anywho, I may have said this before, but since I'm only on episode 6 and still in season 1, I can only go so quickly with the budding romances and such. LoL So just be patient like you do with the cartoon and whatever else you watch. XD And maybe give nice reviews since we writers/authors quite enjoy getting them. **

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><p><strong>"Metalhead"<strong>

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><p>As the redhead had dreaded, it was indeed a long night; or at least it felt that way. However, Jenny had to get back home soon to make dinner for her brother and stuff; she knew how much it bugged Casey to come back to an empty apartment.<p>

Besides, April was starting to get on Jen's nerves with all the complaining that April did about how Donnie was gushing over the ginger and her whiny self. As usual, making it out to be a lot worse than it actually was. It was like April forgot Jenny was there or something and hadn't heard and seen it all…

April took that opportunity to leave too; not wanting to be left alone with Donnie, and not wanting to go home alone. So Jenny offered to walk her home, since unlike Donnie, she wouldn't stand out so much.

No offense to him of course. Though the turtle couldn't help but be a bit jealous the two humans could walk around so nonchalantly like that in public together. Though which human he was more jealous of for getting to be around the other like that remained to be seen…

They bid him goodnight not long before they chose to meet up on the roof of their favorite pizzeria. The four brothers grabbed a few more pizzas before they left for home as well; feeling rather disappointed they hadn't made any progress in their mission.

Jenny would've loved to help April find her dad, which was why she was burning the candle at both ends by going out on searches with the turtles, and then after patrol with her own team to see if they could find anything.

But alas, the Kraang had so many bases and in so many different dimensions. The odds of finding the _exact_ one her dad was being held in (if he was even still alive) was pretty slim… Even with Utrom technology.

April was getting really depressed about it too, and conveyed her woes to Jenny. The redhead listened and then commented how with all the technology and camera phones these days that she was surprised people hadn't posted up tons of Kraang sightings on the internet.

That was when April got the idea to make a website for people to post things like that. And how the ginger came to find one video that led her to a warehouse. Leo had advised her against going, but she was determined.

Besides, she made sure to bring Jenny along, as at least the redhead had archery skills. From all the hanging out with the secret Guardian in training that April did, she learned that the redette was quite proficient with a bow and arrow.

She found out because Jen figured if she had to listen to April while the girl sat around and complained about wanting her "normal" life back, and things like that, that at least the boffin could get in some target practice.

Always being careful to act like she was pulling the bow and quiver of arrows from her backpack instead of it forming from her symbiotic suit. Jen would practice at a little archery place she knew of in the city.

And it wasn't long after they had started going on missions with the turtles that Jenny began bringing her weapon along. Which was how April and the four heroes in a half shell learned just how well the scarlet haired teen could handle herself in a fight.

As well as how Donnie couldn't help better believing it when Jen mentioned how her family was naturally athletic. The redhead was more than handy with that bow, and proved to be a useful ally when they were out and about as Jen could lay down cover fire for them from afar, while protecting April.

Over the many nightly searches they'd taken to find her dad, Jen had been along for enough of them and helped them fight any Kraang they encountered, that the ginger knew Jenny could take care of April as well as herself when they were throwing down; usually staying close to April to protect her and helping out the turtles when she could.

Jennifer couldn't believe she'd agreed to go with her. She told April it was a dangerous idea, and like Leo, advised against it as they didn't know what they were getting into and should at least scout the place out first.

April was impatient though, and ignored her advice. Jen sighed and shook her head; but told her to at least be as quiet as possible and follow her lead. April agreed hesitantly agreed, more to shut Jenny up; hoping so badly that they might find her dad to care much about her own personal safety.

Then they snuck into the warehouse and found it was rather crawling with Kraang. The two of them moved about stealthily; with April doing her best to do as Jenny did, until they came upon two Kraang droids talking to one another about the mutagen.

April ended up with Jenny quickly putting a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp when the Kranng creeps were discussing how they were going to put the mutagen in the water supply.

The redhead told her that they needed to get out of there and tell the turtles before the Kraang could contaminate the water supply. But as they got up from where they were crouched behind some crates, April accidentally knocked over a fire extinguisher. Jenny quietly face palmed while April cringed.

April began whispering "Think Ninja" to herself over and over, and Jen had the strong urge to roll her eyes. Those turtles really needed to show April the ropes some time if they wanted the girl to hang out with them and live.

But then the secret kunoichi heard the droid noisily turn its attention to their direction, and this time April ended up gasping again at the sound. The redhead inwardly sighed as she grabbed the ginger by the hand and quickly led her to the other side of the stack of crates.

So that when the droid came to look at the spot where they were, Jenny maneuvered behind it and shot it through the head with an arrow so it landed on its front; trapping the Kraang inside its own suit so it couldn't see them.

Jen gestured to a window for them to escape out of. They hurried to it and she held it open for April to climb out. But before she followed, Jenny went quickly over and shot another arrow through the suits abdomen to kill the Kraang copy inside.

With that done, she grabbed her arrows and got the shell out of there to meet up and leave with April outside. When April asked what took her so long, Jenny told her she had to get her arrow so as not to draw suspicion back to them.

And also because arrows were expensive; although this was said more to lighten the mood. The ginger smirked and shook her head as they got out of there. Jenny asked her to call her once she told the turtles so she could help.

The ginger gave a nod and hurried off, while Jenny called up her own team to inform them as to what was going on. Best to have a contingency just in case. One never really knew what to expect when it came to the Kraang…

She and April met up later on that evening to go find the turtles, as apparently they were gone when April went to try and find them at the lair. Jenny frowned as she shushed the other and tried to listen. "Do you hear something… _clanging_?" April listened and nodded with slightly wide eyes.

It sounded like some kind of clumsy Kraang droid, and whatever it was sounded like it was right above them! Jenny took a few steps back to hide in the shadows and wait to see what it was, while April called out quietly to see if it was the turtles.

Thankfully it was, although, April wasn't sure what to make of the little hunk of noisy metal that landed raucously on the street where they were. April's remark of "What the heck is that?!" caused Jenny to take a closer look after coming out when she saw it was just the turtles.

Sure, the redhead was a bit taken aback when it landed near her and April, and nearly knocked over a dumpster on them, but she had to admit that it had a cute design for a turtle shaped robot. Even if it was made out of Kraang tech… Jen really hoped it wouldn't turn evil or anything.

Apparently its name was Metalhead, and it was Donatello's new creation. "So… Where IS Donatello anyway?" Jenny asked; not seeing him anywhere. She figured he might be controlling it from the roof or something.

"Ah, he's back at the lair… Eating my pizza!" Mikey told her; glaring at the robot as he practically hissed the last part. Meanwhile, April began telling them about the Kraangs plot to dump mutagen into the water supply.

Donnie was psyched to go stop the Kraang and show off with Metalhead, but Leo told him he had to hang back with April and Jenny because his robot was just too clumsy and noisy.

When they saw the little robot bow its head in woe, she and April exchanged looks and Jenny gave Metalhead's shoulder a consoling light pat, while the ginger did the same to the other one.

The three of them headed up to the roof to watch, while Leo, Raph and Mikey went to take down the Kraang. Jenny wanted to stay behind to make sure April would be safe from any Kraang that tried to run for it, or anything else that might happen.

Jenny was standing beside Metalhead and trying not to laugh every time he went to stare at April. Scowling, April pulled out her phone and started texting Jenny so he wouldn't know what they were saying.

_April: "What the heck is wrong with him?"_

_Jenny: "LoL he's just crushing on you. That's all. But you know that. Besides, it is kinda sweet." _

_April: "Sweet?! No it isn't! It's creepy! I really wish he'd just get over his stupid crush already. I don't like him that way. DX" _

_Jenny: "I know, but he does mean well. Just try not to crush the guy crushing on you, 'kay? You know he doesn't deserve that." _April thought about it, and as aggravating as he was, Donnie was still her friend.

_April: "Oh… Okay. I guess you have a point there."_

_Jenny: "XD I get that a lot."_

"So… you like heavy metal?" Donnie asked the ginger haired teen with a nervous giggle. April sighed inwardly and rolled her eyes as she went back to watching the warehouse with a grumpy look on her face. Jenny giggled and then smiled apologetically at the look April shot her.

_Jenny: "Oh c'mon! That was funny! Heavy metal! Cuz he's a robot. Get it? XD"_

_April: "I get it all right. But it's not really my humor. -.-"_

_Jenny: "You need to get your funny bone checked, because it's obviously broken. XP"_

_April: "Ha ha. XP" _She heard Jenny snicker, but this time when she tried to glare at her it faltered, and she was glad the redhead was there to keep her from blowing up at Donnie and his annoying antics.

"So Donnie." The robot snapped its head toward Jen; slightly surprised. "Uhm, how come you're not here helping your brothers in person?" Donnie frowned; and she could hear it in his tone.

"But I am helping them! That's why Metalhead is there." He told the clever human like it was so obvious. It was her turn to frown; not in annoyance but more in disapproval. And Don had to admit, he disliked that look.

"And how's that workin' out for ya?" Jenny asked flatly; a hand on her hip as she leaned slightly to one side in a sassy fashion that just dared him to argue the point. "Uhhhh…"

"Mmmhm. That's what I thought. Now don't get me wrong, Metalhead looks cool, and I hope you'll tell me all about him later-" Donnie couldn't help smiling; an excited glimmer in his eye as he was pretty psyched that SOMEONE finally wanted to hear about all his hard work.

Then he gave himself a mental shake; his cheeks feeling rather warm as he tuned back in to what the redhead was saying and being glad he couldn't be seen. "-but what's the _real _reason you're not here?" She was only speaking loud enough for him to hear, so he turned the volume down to match hers.

"It's… kind of embarrassing." Donatello began uncertainly. "Tell me anyway. I won't laugh." She assured him with all seriousness. And then he proceeded to explain to her about how a while back, at the lair, April was saying how cool the weapons his brothers had were.

But when he tried to show his off, Raph started teasing him about how lame a wooden stick was, and how April had laughed. "I see… So, because she doesn't take your weapon as seriously as she should, you don't either?" That disapproving look again, and the turtle suddenly felt very silly.

"Well, I, uh… I hadn't thought about it like _that_. But yeah, I guess that's it." Donnie admonished meekly; suddenly realizing how stupid that must sound, and began regretting he'd even said anything.

"Hmm… Y'know, your bo staff is nothing to be ashamed of. No matter how much technology advances, you'll find a simple stick can come in handy." Jenny pointed out with a thoughtful look as she leaned back against the ledge of the roof.

It amazed him how sagely she could sound for someone so young. It kinda reminded him of Master Splinter sometimes. But the redette had to be mature and grownup. No one else in her family was going to be.

And it paid off listening to Haruhi-sensei and even Mr. Murakami when they spoke. "Yeah, but still. When it comes to fighting aliens and robots with lasers, a stick just doesn't cut it." Don argued glumly.

"You might be surprised…" Jenny replied knowingly; and although he highly doubted that, he made no further argument, as they went back to watching what was going on.

Although mostly it was her and April keeping an eye out while he went back to staring at April when he thought the ginger wasn't looking. "Look at her. She's so beautiful." Donnie sighed dreamily; thinking that no one could hear him.

He had been too caught up in staring at April with the help of Metalhead's zoom function to take much notice of the two humans texting one another. Although it wasn't the first time it happened, but it did still upset him to varying extents depending on how caught up he was in his "April gazing".

Mostly because he'd figured out that it was Jenny whom April was texting, and also because he didn't know what she was texting the other about, or why the ginger couldn't say whatever it was in front of him.

Weren't they at least friends? Did April not think she could trust him with whatever it was that she told Jenny? Or did she just trust the redhead more than him? What the heck was it that the clever human had that the lovelorn turtle didn't?

The helpless romantic of a terrapin just didn't know, and though these were thoughts that weren't currently plaguing him at the moment, they certainly did bother and baffle him to no end. Unfortunately for him however, both girls had heard him loud and _very_ clear when he'd spoken.

_April: "Ugh… There he goes again!" _

_Jenny: "Don't be mean. Just ignore it. He doesn't realize it's not muted." _The redhead was trying very hard not to at least snicker; caught between wanting to tell the helpless romantic of a terrapin, and wondering if maybe it might just be better to keep quiet and hope he wouldn't say anymore, when the buzzing of the cell in her pocket distracted her train of thought.

_April: "I wish he did. Maybe he'd shut up."_ April rolled her eyes again and gave a small huff; wondering how the redette was able to put up with Donatello's antics and behavior, when she knew that whether he meant to or not that he could sometimes be rude to Jen.

"On this monitor, she can't tell I'm staring." He continued on prattling dreamily. Jenny was about to try and quietly tell him to mute it when April beat her to it. "You do know that's not muted, right?" The ginger told him bluntly.

The poor romantic of a turtle fell over as his mind frantically tried to figure out what to do. He turned his head to Jenny in time to see her face palm. But it wasn't at what he did, it was at April's attitude.

"Of course! If it was muted, you couldn't hear me joking." He lied with another nervous giggle. He accidentally hit the megaphone button while he was spazzing. "Man, I hope she bought that." Which blared out loudly; making both girls cover their ears and exchange looks.

April's one of great annoyance and Jenny's trying to offer consolation to keep the other from stealing one of her arrows to shove into Metalhead's face; which essentially looked like a big, puppy eyed look, which Jen was used to using on Casey to help keep him from taking a baseball bat to anyone who ticked him off.

Taking a moment to collect herself, the ginger chose to try and keep her cool. "That's the megaphone." April practically gritted out; her patience wearing thin. Something better happen to end this night, and soon she thought. "I know!" Donnie said childishly; his face five shades of red as he felt rather mortified.

Donnie turned to the boffin; trying to regain his composure and rid the air of the tension that was clearly thickening. "So, how do you think the fight's going?" Jenny shook her head, and then suddenly the three of them jumped back when a cannon blast cut out a chunk of the roof where they were standing.

"Apparently not well." Jenny stated with a frown as they could hear Mikey screaming and see him freaking out. "Jenny! Stay here and protect April! And, uh… Maybe lay down some cover fire if my bros need it." Donnie exclaimed as the robot snapped to attention.

"You got it." Jenny said while quickly moving to find a better vantage point behind where his brothers were cornered; bow in hand and an arrow ready to fire, as Metalhead sprang onto the roof of the warehouse and crashed down through the skylight.

"It's about time… He was really getting on my nerves." April grumbled when she went to stand beside Jenny. But the redhead shot her a look that made the ginger wish she'd kept her mouth shut.

"Y'know what, you're not the only one going through stuff. So how about you just stop letting him get to you and focus on what you need to do to get your dad back. Hm?" April bowed her head and rubbed her arm at the scolding tone.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to-" But Jenny didn't have the patience to hear her out; lives were at steak. "I know. But right now we've gotta keep our head in the game. The whole city is at stake." And with that, the ginger gave a nod; her expression of grim understanding.

April couldn't believe how petty she had been. Not that it wouldn't stop her from being so in the future, but at least for now Jenny was glad she was listening and not complaining anymore.

Seriously… Some nice guy really likes her, and all April can do is whine about it like he ran over her kitten repeatedly or something. Either deal with it or shut up. That was how Jen was raised. She could definitely see the gingers resemblance to April's crybaby dad at times like these.

As they watched Donnie work his magic with the robot, Jenny couldn't help but geek out some. "Oh my gosh! That thing has lasers!" She practically squealed; forgetting for a moment the gravity of the situation as her eyes got all big and shimmered with excitement.

"That is SO COOL!" While Jenny fell prey to her love of nerdy stuff, April rolled her eyes and smiled in amusement. The ginger thought it was amazing how Donnie wasn't head-over-heels in love with Jenny instead of her.

It was so freakin' radical to watch Metalhead blasting, burning, and all around bashing those stupid Kraang. At least Jenny thought so, but then a sudden explosion knocked her and April over.

And when Jenny got up and went back to man her post, she saw the adorable terrapin bot was down for the count. But what was even worse was that some evil little gum wad of an alien was trying to control it.

If only Jenny could get a shot from that angle… And if she tried she might end up hitting one of the turtles. "Get outta there guys!" Jen whispered in concern for their safety; not wanting to giveaway their position and put April in danger. Donnie wouldn't let her hear the end of it.

The redette saw how they were trying to fight it and wondered why they just didn't simply attack the alien on the robots head. It was like the only part they weren't hitting, and it was starting to annoy the heck out of Jenny.

Getting tired of seeing them fail, she told April to stay where she was and headed up to the skylight for a better vantage point. "What are you doing?! I thought I told you to stay with April!" Donnie exclaimed as he landed beside her.

"D-Donnie?!" Green eyes widened in surprise when she saw him. "I was just trying to-" She began, but he cut her off; not looking at all pleased. "Get back over there and protect her! I've got this!" He told her rather assertively before jumping down to fight the Kraang.

Jenny blinked and then glowered defiantly. "Sorry Donnie boy. But that so doesn't work with my brother, and it ain't gonna work for you." And with that, she took aim and began helping the turtles down below who were fighting the droids by picking off or weakening the ones that were starting to surround them while she gave a menacing shout of "GOONGALA!".

It was just sort of a thing her and Casey always did when they were doing battle in some way or another. Whether it was his playing hockey, when they were beating up any thugs or bullies that tried to mess with them, roughhousing, when she was fighting Kraang, and so forth.

The turtles thought it was weird when she yelled it, but oddly enough Donnie pointed out that Mikey did yell "Booyakasha", and they decided it wasn't so weird. But it was still kinda strange whenever they heard it though.

"Just hit the blobby pink alien on his head! HIT IT! HIT IT!" Jenny called down as she saw how Donnie was fairing; he wasn't doing too bad, but for the love of pizza, just smack the damn alien!

"Protect April!" Donnie yelled back. "I am you doofus! Unlike you, I can multitask!" Jenny told him in a slightly teasing voice. Donnie growled in frustration and then yelped as he dodged a projectile little bomb from one of Metalhead's eyes.

"Oooh! That'll work!" Don said as he noticed the beam that explosive had hit. And then he taunted the Kraang, so it would shoot more at the beam and cause it to fall on the robot, so that Donnie could use his stick to run it through the robot.

Huh, who would've figured Jenny was right about a stick being useful. Okay, she'd been right about the chip he put in the Tpod he guessed, but still… Donnie supposed he did have to admit, if only to himself, that a stick could be useful even against a robot.

The redhead watched in horror as the beam crashed down on top of him; worrying that he might be hurt… or worse… Oh god! "DONNIE!" Jenny cried in panic, and leapt down to see if he was okay before even thinking about it.

"BOOYAKASHA!" Jen heard the familiar voice of Donnie cry out. And as the dust settled, she saw he was okay and that the turtle had stopped the robot; and with his staff no less.

Jenny let out a breath of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding, but was just grateful her friend was okay; her heart feeling like it was about to beat out of her chest from worry.

Then, after the Kraang spoke, the pink alien squealed like a stuck pig and tried to jump at Donnie's face; making him scream. But before it could get to him, Jen knocked it away with her bow; as she didn't like killing them in front of April or the turtles.

All the while, her own team worked stealthily outside to take care of the aliens that tried to scamper away. There was a reason hardly anything was ever found when the Kraang were destroyed by either the turtles or the Guardians.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked quietly as she knelt down beside him; those big forest-like orbs shimmering with concern. "Y-yeah… Thanks." He breathed; trying to calm down from that freaky experience. Those aliens were so creepy! She helped him up and Leo congratulated him on a job well done.

Which was all good, until Raph started chewing him out for having built the robot in the first place. Making Donnie feel like crap. Jen placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and was all sulky like that until they parted ways.

The redhead sighed softly and went to find April to take her home, before returning in full ninja gear to help her team get rid of the evidence, and destroy anything that required it. But mostly to charge and explode stuff because she felt really annoyed with how the night had gone.

The rest of the evening had been the usual clean up, retrieve any useful data and investigate what you could type of situation for Jenny and her teammates. Though she couldn't help wondering how Donatello was handling all the blame that Raph spewed his way while she worked.

Akira and her fellow Guardians in training took all the mutagen to dispose of it; piling it in the back of the undamaged vans the Kraang had and taking it to one of the T.G.R.I. facilities to be properly disposed of, as it would be too dangerous to blow the place with it there.

Kaia and Danny drove the ooze off, while Jenny and Akira stayed behind and got rid of any evidence of what really happened there. The boom happy boffin set up a few charges set in the right places to go off in a controlled explosion.

That way what they needed to hide would be hidden by being incinerated, while the places around it wouldn't be too badly damaged and accidentally hurt whoever was there. The redette was at least glad to be distracted by what she was doing.

Akira let her go home when Casey sent a text asking where she was, and so Jen hurried home after thanking her understanding leader. Seeing that something was bugging his younger twin, the ravenet frowned and then did his best to try and cheer her up.

He knew if Jen wanted to talk about it then his geeky sibling would. But until then, Casey would do his utmost as a big brother to try and take Jenny's mind off of whatever it was, so he asked if she could help him with his homework; which she was more than happy to do.

But later that night, in the lair, as he spoke to Master Splinter, Donnie couldn't help but remember what Jenny had told him back up on the roof. "I guess you're right. He said as he stood up to properly speak to his sensei.

"I am." Splinter stated matter of factly. "I guess with proper training, there's nothing better than a wooden stick." Yeah, the redhead did have a good point. He should probably thank her later.

But for now… He was going to try and enjoy his latest invention. "Except a laser guided, missile-launching wooden stick!" Don was all excited and proud about it. Until it malfunctioned and started making alarming noises.

"It's not supposed to do that! RUUUUUUUN!" He cried; causing his brothers to run away lest they get their shells blown off. Yeeeeah… After that, Donatello decided to listen to Jenny and his sensei and just stick with the nice, safe bo staff…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**XD I like adding moments from the show to help the chapters flow better, and also because some scenes I find quite funny. I can't add all the scenes I like, but when I can fit at least one in, I'm happy. ^_^ Updates may slow down a bit after this chapter what with holidays and everything going on, and also since it takes me a while to get everything written and edited just the wayz I likez it. LoL But thanks to those of you who continue to stay tuned. X3**


	20. Stick-To-Itiveness

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): I read a cool quote somewhere that read "The worst distance between two people is misunderstanding". I can't help but think of certain pairings in this fic and giggle wickedly about it. I do so looooove messing with the characters! X3 I mean, I create OC's just to do stuff to them when they're not being fun, funny or awesome. LoL But hey, that's why we have fanfiction! BOOYAKASHA! **

**I tell yah, I have a whole new respect for script writers since I've been writing more episode based chapters since this one. I mean, I had a lot of respect for script and story writers before, but wow! They do a lot of cool and creative stuff. LoL **

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><p><strong>"Stick-To-Itiveness"<strong>

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><p>Though in some ways, the purple banded turtle still saw Jenny to be a sort of rival for April's attention and he was still a bit suspicious of her, his attitude toward the redhead had lightened considerably from all the time which passed since he decided to try being friends.<p>

So when he went over to April's place, the ginger was quite taken aback when he asked if Jen was there. Not that he wasn't spazzing out happily to be at the gingers place, but the turtle had been wanting to talk to Jen about some stuff concerning things he didn't wish April to know about, as it would be embarrassing.

And truth be told, Donnie didn't have anyone else he could go to, to talk about that sort of stuff; much less anything involving science, as either his brothers teased him to no ungodly end or Master Splinter spoke all cryptically like he did which just confused Donnie even more.

The subjects he wished to discuss were mostly to do with the conversation he and Jen had had up on the roof the other night about his bo staff, so he really would rather not April know about it and think he was lame.

If there was one thing he believed when it came to the redhead no matter how he felt about her otherwise, it was that she was easy to talk to and often said things that helped him in some way or another; even if he didn't always realize it right away.

He would've contacted Jen via her MyFace page, but she hadn't been on and he was beginning to get a bit impatient. When the redhead would later ask why he didn't just call her like Raph usually did on their old payphone Don had hooked up, the brainy terrapin would face palm and admit he hadn't thought of that since his mind was simply too preoccupied. Besides, it had been a good excuse to see April he reasoned with himself.

April didn't mind not being the one Donnie wanted to see, and was more than happy to call up Jenny to see if she could meet up with the geeky turtle. Jennifer told her that she could as well as when and where they could meet.

The purple banded ninja thanked April and complimented her on something as he usually tried to do when he saw her, before he left to go meet up with Jenny and hope maybe talking to her would help like it usually did, as he found her easier to talk to than April most of the time.

When they met up, Donnie told Jenny the story about the bo staff he'd made with a missile on it and what happened. By the end of his tale, she was falling out laughing. "Oh man! D-did you really?!" Donnie couldn't help but join in her mirth as it was silly now that the incident had passed. "Heheh, yeah. You should've seen the look on their faces!"

"Of course, they were pretty mad when I told them I had taken out the explosive part, so it was basically just a dud. But it's not like I forgot about that on purpose." He told her with a sheepish grin; rubbing the back of his head at his own forgetfulness.

Their laughter subsided and he shook his head. "But I still don't know what to do to upgrade my staff." He said; some of the humor leaving his voice. She gave a shrug. "Why don't you just add a blade?" Jen asked nonchalantly; it seemed kinda obvious to her since Mikey had a blade in his nun chucks.

A little light bulb pinged over the turtles head (a fluorescent one, cuz he's all environmentally friendly like that), and he grinned toothily. "That's it!" He leapt to his feet, and the next thing she knew, he took off from the roof of some shop where they had met up.

Jenny raised a curious eyebrow when he suddenly came back, grabbed her hand and frantically shook it and ecstatically told her "Thank you!" before taking off again. Jen blinked. "Um… You're welcome!" She called after him.

Jen heard him laugh enthusiastically and couldn't help chuckling herself at his spirited behavior. Meanwhile, Donnie hurried back to the lair to figure out a way to put a hidden blade in his bo staff that could pop out when he needed to use it.

The redhead got a similar reaction from him, when he came by to hang out with April, but as usual the ginger haired teen began making excuses to avoid hanging out with Donnie or being alone with him.

Since Jen was there and April made some excuse like getting something to drink so she could go inside to get a break from Donatello's persistent attempts to woo her, he complained about how every time he tried to ask April to hang out with him, she always had some reply that would throw him off.

"Yeah, it's a shame you can't plan for every response. But that would probably be over thinking it." Unfortunately for him, and probably April, Donnie only heard the first part of what Jen said before he sprung up and shouted "THAT'S IT! I'll just make a chart to plot out every possible response and a way to counter it!"

With that Donnie hurried off, then came back to thank her again with a quick "Thanks Jen!" before he was gone like a shot in the dark. She tried to call out to him to repeat the last part and tell him that it might not be such a good idea, "Yeah, but that's not-!" she began but the overzealous ninja was already out of sight.

Jen sighed and shook her head, before putting on her headphones and waiting for April to come back from whatever it was she was supposed to be doing after dumping Donnie on her again.

Yeah, okay, so maybe the geeky turtle could be a bit much at times. But that didn't mean he deserved to be treated like that in Jen's opinion. Ah well, at least he could talk to her. That was something at least she supposed.

Whether he appreciated it or not; and it didn't often seem to Jen like he did, but hey, not all relationships were perfect. Jen knew from experience that life, and the people in it weren't perfect and that not all friendships were.

The redhead figured it was just one of those kind of friendships, and simply took heart in the fact that at least she was getting along with the turtles; to whatever extent such could be counted, as and smiled as she hummed quietly to the tune she was listening to on her now fixed iPod, and hope that that whole flowchart idea wouldn't come back to bite her in the butt.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Awww, yay! X3 Donnie and Jenny are really starting to warm up to one another... but the real question is... knowing Donatello, will it last? DUN DUN DUUUN! You'll have to wait and read the next chapter to find out! And then the ones that come after that! Kuwahahahahahah! LoL Ahem! Sorry, got excited. XD**

**Also, if you get why the joke at the end is funny, you must've seen the episode "Monkey Brains". XD And for that, you rock, because it's one of my favorite episodes since it has Dr. Falco in it. X3 I also LOVE "Never Say Xever", that's just because I have a weird villain crush on him and his human form. XD I mean, don't get me wrong, his other form that you see later on is pretty awesome but... those _legs_... Yum! XD**


	21. Monkey Brains

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): X3 As thanks for sticking with the fic, here's an extra long chapter! Also, apologies for not showing my other OC's as much as I do Jenny, but I have my reasons. Like I've stated before, I show my OC's as I feel they are needed, etc. So yeah... LoL Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>"Monkey Brains"<strong>

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><p>Down in the lair, Michelangelo and his older brother Donatello were practicing their ninja moves in the dojo, and Mikey was having a pretty fun time of it. At least until Donnie began to chastise him about what he was doing.<p>

"Dude, what are you doing? You don't defend against Seoi Nage with back flips!" Donnie told him like it was so obvious. "Why not? Back flips are where it's at!" The younger turtle defended lightheartedly as he worked the ligaments in his legs.

"The best defense is to roll along my back, _then _take me to the ground and put me in an arm lock. Unless, of course, I counter with a-" The know-it-all turtle began to blather thoughtfully. "Hey, man, you can't take the fire out of..." Mikey did a quick back flip. "Hi-yah! Dr. _Flipenstein_!"

"I don't even know what that means!" Don said in exasperation at his crazy little brothers antics. But thankfully, that was about the time Master Splinter walked in, and so he hurried over to get his opinion.

"Master Splinter, what would you do if someone tried to throw you with Seoi Nage?" Donnie asked; figuring his sensei would side with him. "I don't know." Their father figure replied nonchalantly as he continued his casual trek across the dojo; the only real thing on his peaceful mind being how he was going to go get himself a nice cheesecicle and maybe watch his stories (soap operas).

"Come on, you must have planned a response for every attack!" The geeky turtle asked enthusiastically. "If you think too much about what is _coming_, you lose sight of _what is_. You must be fully in the moment so you can fight _without _thinking." Splinter advised, and wondered why his students didn't seem to grasp his sagely wisdom.

"Why would I want to fight without thinking?" Donnie asked dumbfoundedly; thinking that such a thing sounded kinda stupid and probably something only Mikey would do.

"Allow me to demonstrate. Prepare to defend against Seoi Nage!" Splinter said as he swiftly turned to his tallest son, before attacking him, and pinning the turtle with hardly any effort.

"OOOOW! That wasn't Seoi Nage!" Donnie whined in pain as he heard things crack that probably shouldn't be cracking, while Mikey watched in amusement from afar. Splinter chuckled in a mischievous way. "No, but you _thought_ it would be." He pointed out as he let Donnie up.

"Now, would you like to prepare against a spinning back kick?" Splinter asked airily; always enjoying a bout of playing with his sons. "N-no, I'm good." Donnie gasped as he clutched at his head. "Know what would have worked there? BACKFLIP!" Mikey rubbed in as he chuckled and Donnie groaned.

Later on, Donatello was putting the finishing touches on his "Master Plan to Hang Out with April" flowchart. The one he'd gotten the idea for from Jenny. "Whatcha up to, Donnie?" Leonardo asked as he came over.

It startled the poor purple banded turtle, and nearly caused him to mess up the lines he was meticulously drawing. He sighed and looked up to see his three siblings surrounding him with curious looks. "Just putting the finishing touches on my _master plan_." He told them aloofly.

"Master plan?" Raph asked sarcastically; wondering what his kooky genius brother had cooked up now. "Yeah, to get April to hang out with me instead of Jenny." Donnie explained; sounding a tad at a loss.

But they all thought he was being silly and overly paranoid, and laughed; not seeing Jenny as a threat of anything, but a friend instead. After all, she'd done a lot to help both them AND April. What could a nice gal like that _possibly_ be hiding?

"Try this, 'April, do you want to hang out with me?'" Leo teased his younger bro good-naturedly. "Yeeeeah, you see, it's not that simple." Donnie told them as he waved the large black marker he was drawing with. "I have to prepare for every possible response to maximize my chances of success."

"Awwww, that's so romantic!" Mikey gushed adorably. He really did think it was rather sweet and all that Donnie put so much effort into something like that, but was really glad he didn't have to do that to hang out with his bestest human bud Danny. If one of them was busy, the other simply waited.

Donnie grabbed his chart now that he was done, which he had cleverly hidden on the other side of where he'd plastered one of Leo's "Space Heroes" posters, that way he could flip the board around so April wouldn't see, and rolled it out to show them.

He cleared his throat like an army general about to explain the battle plan. "Yeah, for instance, if April says she can't because she has homework, then I suggest an informal study session and serve healthy brain-stimulating snacks." He told them; feeling quite brilliant.

"But what if she says she's going to study with Jenny?" Leo asked; already seeing holes in this plan that Donnie seemed to refuse to. "Yeah, and what if she has brain-stimu-whatever snacks, like pizza?! Hey, I wonder if Jenny'd let me come over and study?" Mikey mused; getting distracted by thoughts of pizza.

But then Raph gave him a little thwack to the back of the head. "You melon head, what the heck would _you_ do in a study session?" Raphael asked skeptically. "Study how good the pizza tastes, of course!" The bubbly turtle beamed; making his red banded brother roll his eyes.

"Well, what if she says she can't because you're a total nerd?" Raphael asked; figuring he might as well play along too. "Ah! That's this thread here." Donnie said as he pointed to one of the lines he'd draw with his pointer. Leo had pointed out a very good loophole in his first plan, but sooner or later he'd figure out a way around his Jenny problem…

"I will list my many _non-nerdy _qualities and suggest activities that highlight my coolness, such as skateboarding or shark wrestling." Donnie countered; making his brothers eye him like he'd gone off the deep end at the thought of their geeky brother, who had trouble opening pickle jars, trying to wrestle a shark.

But before they could poke more fun at him and his plan, April came in to tell them about some scientist who had gone missing, and show them a video with a man named Dr. Victor Falco on it.

Luckily Donnie was able to hide his chart in time before she saw it. When asked why April brought this to their attention, she pointed out how scientists seemed to have been going missing all over the city; her dad among them.

But Leonardo didn't seem to think they were connected to this Rockwell guy at all though. The case didn't have a very good vibe to it, but that didn't mean it was Kraang related. Still, April wanted to go check it out and Donnie saw his chance.

"April's right. We should go check it out! What's that? You guys are busy? Guess it's just the two of us, April." Donnie said in his smooth, geeky way as he put a hand on the gingers shoulder and led her away.

As Donnie smoothly talked his way into getting April to go along with him to investigate the missing neurochemist named Dr. Taylor Rockwell, she sent a few pleading looks to the other three turtles, but they didn't notice as they were too busy finding Donnie's chart to be hilarious.

Leonardo scoffed as he watched his brother leave all cockily and went over to check out the chart. "I bet _that_ wasn't on his flowchart." He said as he flipped it over to get in some brotherly mocking.

But then his eyes widened and what he saw kinda creeped him out. "Whoa... It is! That is _spooky_." The blue banded turtle thought aloud; his two siblings agreeing with him in their own ways.

The next thing Jenny knew, she was getting an invite to come along and given the reason why. Missing neurochemist, eh? Hmm, Jen couldn't help feeling she'd heard some mention about that at the Utrom facility somewhere, but it was kind of hush hush for the bona fide Guardians to deal with apparently.

Total bummer… Jen would have to fix that. Well, it _could_ prove informative as to why the scientists were being abducted by the Kraang, Jenny thought. And maybe help find April's dad, so Jen went along and met up with April and Donatello a ways before they got to the lab.

Donnie wasn't too happy about his clever plan being spoiled yet again by the scarlet haired menace, but tried to tell himself any time with April was good. Even with the third wheel (Jenny) along for the ride.

After picking the lock with the awesome digital lock pick that he'd created and bragging some about it, both April and Jenny agreed it was pretty cool. Though Jen couldn't help smirking secretly about how Donatello might gush over the one she'd created, if only she could show him.

Donnie gave a happy, nerdy little laugh at the praise that the redhead couldn't help thinking was kinda cute, before April and Donnie went in. Jenny stayed outside to keep watch in case anyone came by.

They found a container of mutagen hidden under a cover in the draw of the desk that was there, and a lot of freaky looking stuff like a busted cage in the wall, and a crazy looking chair that looked like it belonged to an evil dentist in the corner.

Unbeknownst to them, someone had already been in the room when the two of them entered however. And ever so creepily, the tall, shadowy figure snuck up behind Donnie as it raised the blunt instrument it was wielding; getting ready to strike!

Jen heard the noise of a scuffle and came in; turning on the light as she went, and paused to see Donnie pinning some guy to the ground. It was a very tall, and somewhat handsome if she had to say so, man with prematurely graying raven black hair.

"Dr. Falco!" April cried in surprise when the lights came on to illuminate the person that Donatello had pinned down. Jenny cocked her head slightly to the side as she couldn't help wondering why the name sounded familiar…

"AH! What _are_ you?!" The scientist asked in fright as he stared up at the giant mutant green skinned creature holding him down. "Relax, I'm _not _gonna hurt you." Donnie tried to say in a reassuring way; though not sounding very pleased by the mans reaction. Jen couldn't blame him.

"You already hurt me!" Falco argued indignantly; his fear quickly being overridden by his usual anti-social nature. "I mean, anymore." Donnie corrected embarrassedly as he quickly got up off of the human, and Jenny came over to help her friend.

"We're here to help." The redette assured gently with a smile to match, and Dr. Falco visibly relaxed a little. Donnie smiled at her before he could think better of it and then offered the surly scientist his hand. And after that, Falco went to take a seat at his desk as they began to discuss why the three of them were there.

Unfortunately, after April told her little story, the graying ravenet apologized and told them he had no idea what happened to April's father either. Nor did he admit to knowing anything about anything else she was talking about.

Donnie held up the canister of mutagen and asked about it, and Falco said it belonged to Rockwell, as it was given to him by some shady corporation who was paying Rockwell big money to experiment with it.

Jenny stood a little off to Donnie's side as she listened; watching the scientist as he spoke as that feeling that she knew the man from somewhere nagged at her. There was just something… _off _about this Dr. Falco guy. Something that didn't sit right with the redhead.

And whether the other two thought so or not, Jenny felt the need to investigate this case further on her own time; when she _had_ the time of course. Especially after having taken a look at the cage that Dr. Rockwell supposedly kept a monkey in that he'd been experimenting on and seeing how mangled it was.

Yeah… something definitely not right about this whole thing, the redhead thought warily. They finished speaking to Dr. Falco and left to part ways for the night, since Jen had to get home as it was getting rather late.

But no sooner had the redette gone, did she hear what sounded like… what the heck? Were those… monkey sounds?! Well, whatever they were, they didn't sound good and seemed to be coming from where she'd left Donnie and April.

Having traveled by rooftop, the young secret ninja hurried back in time to see a tall, gangly monkey mutant snarling at April like it was about to bite her face off with those nasty looking fanged teeth it had.

But then… it stopped and regarded the ginger, and Jenny watched curiously from her perch up above, with the creature in her sights and her weapon poised, as April told the beastly mutant that everything was going to be okay, before it let her go and took off as if it were frightened and confused.

Yep… This case was definitely a weird one. Jenny couldn't help liking that though, as the weird ones tended to be the most interesting. But right now, she had more urgent matters to attend to and hurried down to help Donnie.

The poor purple banded ninja was rather roughed up from his encounter with the mutant monkey, and would definitely need the boffins own brand of medical attention as she rushed to his aid.

"Donnie, are you alright?" The redhead asked softly as she knelt beside him and held up his head gently. "Eh… Just my pride… and my _internal organs_… uhn…" The poor terrapin groaned painfully before his eye gave a twitch and he blacked out.

Luckily for him, Jenny always kept a first aid kit in her backpack in case of emergencies like the one they were in, or when her brother got hurt doing something that was more than likely stupid.

First aid was an important thing you had to learn as a Guardian, and they made you take it seriously at the Utrom facility, because sometimes with what they did, you really could end up in a life or death situation.

Together she and April pulled him further into the alleyway, before Jenny went about tending to his injuries as best she could with some topical ointment the boffin had concocted in an Utrom lab to help with the pain and to heal the bruises, while she had April on lookout duty.

When she was done, they took turns staying with him while the other kept an eye out for anyone or anything so that he could rest. April wanted to get him back to the lair and argued that she could only carry Don's dead weight but only so far on her own; since Donnie was much heavier unconscious than conscious.

But Jen pointed out that she still wasn't welcomed there. The ginger relented, wondering why they still kept Jen from being allowed to visit the lair, but knew the redhead wouldn't be swayed to go against the turtles.

So they stayed there until Donnie woke up, so that April would be able to take him the rest of the way with his help, after Jen offered to assist in going at least half of the way with them.

Donatello had been pretty surprised to wake up to the redheads concerned looking face and to see her applying medicine to his beaten and bruised body; but was glad he didn't feel so achy anymore.

He was still hurting too much to want to talk, however while they waited for him to feel okay enough to move and Jen went to take her turn of keeping watch, April told him how Jen had come back to help.

And also how the clever human had been quick to act in taking care of him and such. Not to mention how worried April thought Jen looked when she saw how hurt Donnie was.

The ginger hoped that maybe if she told Donnie the truth that it would help the turtle to see Jenny in a better light. As well as hopefully turn his affection onto the redhead instead of her.

Donnie wasn't quite sure what to think of that, as his mind and emotions began having some more internal conflict on the matter of whether he felt he could ever really trust Jenny and not see her as someone who kept getting between him and April, but Donatello couldn't help feeling rather touched nonetheless.

Though, he kinda wished it had been the ginger who was so concerned over him, it still gave the turtle a warm and fuzzy feeling to know someone besides his brothers cared enough to help him like that, even if it could just be a crafty ploy to impress April somehow…

After a few minutes of gathering the strength and energy to move, Donatello told them they better get to the lair and tell the others what happened. Jenny and April took each of his arms and carefully eased him to his feet.

Donnie blushed at getting to be so close to April, and noticed with interest that a sweet and delicate scent like the heat from a Bunsen burner and something he couldn't describe, but would eventually come to know as cinnamon, was coming from one of the humans.

It was an oddly soothing aroma and, thinking it was April who smelled so divinely, Donnie did his best to enjoy it and the closeness as best he could. Huh, it was odd how he'd never noticed it before.

Donnie had ended up getting close to April before; but all he ever caught a whiff of what seemed to be some girly and overly used perfume, as April had to start wearing extra perfume to try and block out the smell of the sewer on her clothes.

It didn't really smell that great; even to his supposedly love addled mind. Had April started trying out some new kind of scent? Well, if that was the case, Donnie hoped she'd stick with it, as that other perfume was pretty overwhelming; and not the good kind.

Jen took them to the closest manhole cover, but when she went to unhook the olive green skinned arm draped around her neck, the poor terrapin almost fell over as April couldn't hold him up on her own. The redhead, as usual, was quick to act and caught him as best she could.

"Ugh! It's no use." April groaned in aggravation. "There's just no way I can carry him all the way on my own." It was a total lie of course, as even the ginger wasn't THAT weak now that she had Donatello awake to help her.

But she saw it as a good chance to try and get her friend an invite to the lair and show the brainy turtle that Jenny meant well. Donatello wasn't quite sure what to do. They had to get home, but if April couldn't help him without Jenny there, then how were they supposed to get back home?

"I'd love to help, but Donnie and the other turtles said I'm not allowed to know where their secret lair is." The redhead stated at a loss with a small shrug. "I mean, if you really need my help, I'll have to come with you." At this, both humans looked at Don; wondering what he would do.

The turtle thought for a long moment and then heaved a sigh, which he painfully regretted it. "Oh… fine! But you're gonna have to be blindfolded. And no peeking!" He relented; feeling a little uncertain about this idea but not having much option.

He still had his reservations about Jenny; one because he felt the girl was hiding something from them, but mostly because his time in the lair with April was really the only time he got to have with her away from the redhead.

It was probably selfish and stupid, Donnie knew that. But hey, he was a teenager. Selfish and stupid were some of the tendencies and problems they had to deal with at some point or another. Just like the raging crazed up fruit loop kind of evil that was known as hormones.

They set Donnie down so Jen could pull out a long string of a gauze-like bandage from her first aid kit, and then Donnie layered it so she couldn't see. After they got down into the sewer, and Jen had it securely tied around her eyes, she helped carry most of Donnie's weight while he and April led the temporarily blind redhead.

Once they saw the two humans and the purple banded ninja enter the lair the way they did; seeing their brother wounded and the redhead with her eyes bandaged, like they were some kind of war victims, the three turtles hurried over to them in a panic.

The three terrapins were all wondering what the heck had happened, seeing as they knew about Donatello's misgivings about Jenny coming to the lair. So whatever it was, must've been enough to sway their tall brothers judgment; even if it was only for the time being…

"Whoa! What happened?!" Raphael asked, just as thunderstruck as his other brothers, as they could see how beat up their brother was; the red banded brother hurrying over to Jenny's side to peer at his fellow Red in concern

"Donnie got beat up by a lab monkey." April managed to grunt as the three came to a halt in front of the other turtles. By the looks the siblings exchanged amongst themselves that Jenny saw as she pulled down her blindfold, the boffin couldn't help feeling that the gingers choice of phrasing could've been, well, _anything _but that.

Leo came over to April's side to take the weight from her as he took up her position of supporting Donatello. "Jenny can you get an icepack?" He asked in an urgent tone. Jen couldn't help narrowing her eyes a tad warily, but left with April ducking under the brainy turtles arm to follow her.

"I better show you where it is." April said as she caught up with Jenny, seeing as the redhead had no idea where anything was. But before Jen could go far, Raphael grabbed her by the hand and she turned to see the turtle frowning worriedly.

The redhead smiled gently and turned to take his hand in both of hers. "I'm okay, Red. It was just a blindfold." Jenny assured gently. Raphael visibly calmed and he smiled some and gave a nod; having been worried about his sisterly figure and he gave a nod before he let the humans hand go so she could get his brother an icepack.

Donatello saw this heartwarming display and scowled darkly, before being caught off guard by such a strange reaction and giving himself a mental shake; thinking that monkey must've really bopped him good.

Leonardo kindly helped his tall little brother to the couch, while the groaning geek tried his best not to show how much pain he was in; not wanting to be teased. "Donnie, you gonna be okay?" The blue banded brother asked gently.

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine." Don managed to grunt breathlessly as he shifted slightly and winced. "In that case…" Leo trailed off as he, Raphael and Michelangelo burst out into a fit of hysterical laughter.

Well, so much for his brothers having been all sweet and worried like Jenny had been. Wait… why did he think that?! Ugh, seriously! Did that mutant monkey give him a concussion or something?

But right now he was a bit too mortified with embarrassment to really care; his face tinged pink as his brothers teased him. "You got beaten up by a monkey? In front of your _girlfriend_?!" Of course Raph was the one to start off the brotherly roast; barely able to catch his breath and suppress his laughter long enough to speak.

Mikey, thinking Raph meant the redhead since it was obvious to the two of them that Jenny was a better match for Donnie, and that they got along really well whether their brainy brother saw it or not, mirthfully added. "Oh dude! You got beat up in front of Jenny?! That's harsh bro!"

"She's _not_ my girlfriend!" Donnie protested childishly; his face feeling hot from more than just annoyance at the way his brothers seemed to think he and the redette were that close. "And that monkey was a vicious mutant!" He quickly said to try and quell their mocking.

Good grief! He felt so humiliated he wished he could just sink into his shell and hide there forever. "Heh! Yeah, I'm sure he went… _bananas_!" Leo quipped a tad lamely, but the situation was too funny for them to really give a hoot.

"No, no, no, no, no. He went _ape_!" The leader of their group added through his own laughter. Mikey was laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach while lying flat on his shell on the upper part of the floor next to Donnie's head, and all he could cry out was "Moneky!", while Raphael howled at the hilarity of both Leo's lame jokes and the fact that Donnie got pwn'd by a freakin' monkey.

Having gotten the icepack, Jenny came back into their living room type area, and her eyes widened a fraction in shock before narrowing in displeasure at what she saw. The three turtles were cackling away while Donnie looked like he was about to cry. How could they possibly laugh at their own brother like that? Didn't they see how hurt he was?!

It reminded her of the times when Casey used to get hurt when he first starting out playing hockey, and how the bigger kids used to taunt and try to bully him; keyword being "try" of course.

As the Jones twins didn't put up with that kind of guff. And so the compassionate redhead couldn't really help but feel rather outraged at their behavior as her pace quickened towards the wounded terrapin.

Raph caught sight of the less than pleased look on the redheads face and did the "kill it" signal with his hand to silence his brothers. "Shh! No more monkey puns." He told them, and they all got quiet while trying to keep straight faces. Which was much easier to do with the scolding look that Jenny gave them when she walked passed.

Seeing her, Donnie sat up as best he could as her expression softened when she saw him, and he couldn't help but smile some; feeling so relieved that her presence had caused them to stop tormenting him that a little chuckle escaped him before he really realized it had come from his own mouth.

When she sat down behind him, Jen gently eased him back with a hand on his shoulder so that his head was resting on her lap in order for her to place the icepack on his head, while her other rested gingerly on top of his scalp in a gesture of comfort.

She shot the other three a disapproving glare. "Are you laughing at him because he's _hurt_?" The boom happy boffin practically hissed; too busy being irked by the other threes behavior to notice the faint smile Donnie had. But he couldn't help it. It wasn't often he was treated so… so… _nicely_!

It was the best word he could come up with at the moment, but to him it said a lot. Jenny had come to his rescue when he needed it most, put up with his trust issues and blindfolding thing, and even came to his aid against the embarrassing assault that his brothers were laying on him.

Huh… who would've thought someone could be so considerate enough to put aside any bad feelings he probably had caused her with his attitude and antics to be there for him like that…? Donatello certainly hadn't…

Was it all apart of some devious plan to get the turtle to let down his guard, while she clawed her way further into April's good graces, or was the redhead genuinely so… _compassionate_? Wow… he sounded kinda paranoid when his mind phrased it like that, the tall turtle mused.

"No, we're laughing at him because he was hurt by a _monkey_!" Mikey edified humorously, as he, Raph and Leo all began laughing again just as April came into the room with a glass of water in hand.

And of course, as silly teenage hormones and overly stubborn teenage hormone addled minds seemed to do, Donnie's basking bemusedly in the kindness Jenny showed him became pushed to the back of his mind again, when he saw how sweet and thoughtful April had been to bring him something to drink.

As soon as she came over to sit down in the empty spot near the end of their oddly shaped couch, Donnie sat up with a wince as he reached out and took the glass from the gingers hands. "Aww! How kind of you to bring me something to drink, April! You really didn't have to."

"I didn't." April clarified while he took a sip; looking a tad surprised. "I was gonna drink that." She told him; having gotten thirsty from their misadventure and having to help lug the annoyingly flirty turtle home.

Donnie nearly choke on his mouthful of water as his brothers erupted into another bout of laughter, as he blushed and Jenny shook her head. He tried to shyly hand the glass back to her with an apologetic look, but April smiled in an effort to hide her disgust that he would try to give it back to her and told him he could have it.

The geeky turtle wasn't very thirsty after that, and set the drink down on the floor, as Donnie all but slumped back down onto the tolerant redheads lap with his eyes closed; not really realizing he had done that. Jenny cocked her head slightly to one side and frowned ever so slightly; feeling somewhat bad for him.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" The secret kunoichi asked sternly. "Better than this?!" Raph asked incredulously as he held out a three fingered hand in gesture to Donnie; who refused to open his eyes as he was trying to pretend he wasn't there.

Okay, Jenny could understand how comical the situation seemed if she hadn't been there to see it for herself for the most part, and yeah she could play and rib with the best of them, but this was a bit much for a sensitive guy like Donnie. And Jen was sure that if the tables were turned, Raphael would be just as embarrassed as his lanky sibling.

"Let me rephrase that… Go do something else!" Jen told them bluntly and in an eerily level yet stern tone, with a look that held no room for argument; having had many years of practice dealing with such behavior from her older brother and friends, and idiots at school or just in general.

Raph scowled and gave an annoyed dismissive wave at his fun having been ruined, before he went off to go read one of his comic books, while Mikey and Leo went back to what they had been doing as well; with Mikey asking Leo how someone so nice could be so scary.

April was rather impressed by the way Jenny was able to handle them, but when she went to give the redhead a thumbs up to congratulate her, she saw that the redette wasn't in any mood for it, and she merely gave the ginger a flat look before adjusting the icepack that she had replaced on Donnie's forehead.

The ginger haired teen frowned bemusedly before getting up and leaving to go see what Leo was doing. "You didn't have to do that…" Donnie muttered quietly; trying to sound indignant with that whole "I can take care of myself" attitude, but there was an obvious underlying tone of gratitude there regardless.

"I know." Jenny replied gently and casually so the others wouldn't hear. They stayed like that for what felt like a while, as Donatello began to settle down from having been embarrassed; and in front of both Jenny and April as well.

He knew it was stupid, and that he would probably feel even more so if it were April's lap that he was resting on, but… Donnie felt rather _secure_ where he was. The redheads lap was all soft and warm, and every so often out of habit that she did for Casey, Jen gave his head a consoling little pet.

Plus, with her there to keep everyone at bay with only a look, no one came to pester him anymore. And as the tired and battered turtle began to fall asleep, even he had to admit that it was pretty cool.

Master Splinter, who had been watching all of this from the shadows upon smelling someone new enter the lair as he wasn't yet sure what to make of the newcomer, found it all most interesting.

He quite liked the way the redheaded teen took charge of the situation after rushing in to defend Donatello, while at the same time without upsetting his other three adopted sons.

The man turned rat knew about Jenny to an extent, as either his sons or April spoke rather well of the scarlet haired human. And he knew that Donatello did his best to make it clear that he liked April, and how he often spoke of how the redhead annoyed him with the way she was almost always around the ginger haired girl.

However, the wise sensei couldn't help but notice how Donatello "complained" about Jen _more_ than he ever talked of April, and how when the two apparently became on less antagonistic terms, that his science loving student began to speak more fondly of his fellow geek without really realizing it.

Though Donatello did still grouse about not getting much time alone with April, and silly teenager things like that, Splinter noticed how throughout their short time together in the lair, his purple banded son seemed more relaxed around Jen than he ever did around April.

In fact, he couldn't really think of a time when Donatello ever really relaxed around the ginger. He was always on edge because of how he was worried about messing up or wanting to prove himself a worthy suitor to a girl; who was very clearly not interested, and things like that which Splinter didn't think was very good for his son.

He himself knew how nerve-wracking it could be to be around someone you liked, but it shouldn't put one through an unhealthy amount of anxiety and stress, as it clearly did Donatello.

It was clear his tallest son was unaware to how he naturally reacted to the redhead, but Splinter saw it all quite plainly. Donatello was a genius when it came to many things, yes. But in matters such as the heart, the boy was downright clueless, his sensei thought in mild amusement.

But then again, most people were, as even Splinter had yet to truly grasp the way it all worked; as was made painfully clear by how his relationship with Haruhi had gone so horribly awry the way it had…

As soon as Jenny was within the brainy turtles line of sight, Splinter saw how Donnie had smiled, and how the tension and his brothers previous tormenting seemed to be lifted from him as he moved to let the boffin sit down to tend to him.

How easily Donatello laughed when the other three fell silent, like he knew everything would be okay now that Jenny was there. And how contentedly he smiled when the genial teen defended him and made Raph, Mikey and Leo stop their teasing and leave their brother alone.

A feat that only Splinter thought he himself was capable of, that made the older ninja smile in an intrigued yet knowing way that parents do when they see a compatible and potential mate for their child.

And it only warmed at how endearingly the redhead continued to stroke the top of Donatello's head even after he fell asleep on her lap, and Splinter heard her softly humming to herself some easygoing and quiet tune, as she watched over his slumbering son.

Indeed, this Jenny seemed far better suited for his purple banded adopted child than someone who almost went out of her way to show she didn't appreciate Donnie's advances.

The April girl was pleasant and all, but he could not see any of his sons being anything beyond a friend with her, as she made it VERY clear she wanted her "normal" life back. And their family was anything but normal…

Whereas this Jenny showed patience and tolerance, which unbeknownst to Splinter, was from years of having to deal with her twins emotional issues, clingy nature and everything else she'd had to learn to endure right alongside Casey. And unlike April, Jenny didn't seem to mind at all that his sons were mutants.

In fact, the redet seemed to embrace their weirdness, and appeared quite at home amongst them. Still, Splinter would try to keep an eye on the situation and hope for the best.

And with that, he went back to meditate on the matter further; feeling it was not quite yet time to introduce himself to the redhead, as there would be plenty of time for that later.

Before Jen left to go home, she gave the little can of ointment that she used on Donnie earlier to Leo to give to his wounded brother when he woke up to help aid in his recovery. And again, Don felt a heartwarming sensation at the redheads thoughtfulness, and was reminded of it every time he went to reapply the medicine.

Whatever the heck that stuff was that Jen gave him, it certainly did wonders, and Donnie was feeling and looking better in no time! Meanwhile, the boffin was diligently continuing the investigation on her own.

She was rather irked that Donnie had gotten badly hurt and that April could've been as well, and wanted to get to the bottom of this creepy Kraang mystery as soon as possible to prevent anymore such unfortunate incidents from occurring again.

Once out of school, she went to April's place to ask her more in-depth about what had happened between the ginger and the monkey mutant. When April asked why, Jen said that she saw how the shorter teen had somehow managed to calm it, and asked how she had done that.

April confessed that she had no idea how, but that she'd just gotten an odd feeling. Jenny muddled this over; being slightly reminded of the instincts she and her fellow Guardians and Guardians in training possessed, which seemed on the verge on empathy that they obtained either naturally or through training

It was most common amongst those who had mutant powers, but Jen knew that regular humans could sometimes get it too. Though, the redhead couldn't help becoming rather thoughtful on the matter and thanked the ginger before she left.

After doing some internet searching on Dr. Victor Falco, Jenny found some articles written by him that ranged from neuroscience to parapsychology, and then realized where she knew him from.

He was a professor at Jefferson University where her friend, who was also Aki's older sister, Karina attended a while ago. In fact, the guy was Kari's professor of the parapsychology course she had. Huh, small world…

The mad genius did some more digging and a bit of hacking, and found out that the lab they'd been to was in Dr. Rockwell's name, as well as the man having received quite a few large and questionable deposits from an untraceable source that simply screamed Kraang to her.

When checking out Dr. Falco as she had Rockwell, the redette was a bit perplexed to find that Falco wasn't getting any fancy large sums of money. It seemed the graying ravenet hadn't been lying about the part he mentioned involving Rockwell being the one getting paid. Maybe Dr. Falco was innocent after all? Hmmm…

But in all the information she continued to look through, she couldn't see any mention of Dr. Rockwell buying or even renting a freakin' monkey. The dude hadn't even bought a banana nut muffin from what she could tell. Which begged the question… just what or better yet _who_ had been in that cage?

Jennifer Jones figured it might prove fruitful if perhaps she tried asking Karina about the suspicious parapsychologist. However, Karina seemed rather shocked by the news and told the younger teen that she couldn't believe Dr. Falco would ever do something as horrible as associate with the Kraang.

The redhead reasoned that it was Dr. Rockwell who did the fraternizing, and that in that regard at least, Falco seemed innocent, but that the man could still be experimenting with mutagen; as a scientist was a scientist.

That was just fact to Jenny, and as Karina loved science as well, she could also understand this; even if she didn't want to think the ravenet could've ever been involved with the Kraang in any way, and wondered if maybe someone was forcing the professor to do it.

In Kari's mind, it made more sense than Dr. Falco doing something bad. Seeing as this was a bit of a personal matter, Akira's older sibling went with them when they went to consult Haruhi on the matter.

The svelte sensei knew that any matter involving Dr. Falco was a very sensitive one in regards to his dear cousin Karina, as the two had been very close, at least until the an incident between Victor and Karina caused it so that they were no longer speaking.

However, Haruhi ordered the team of four, as well as Karina not to get involved and to let the turtles handle the situation. As from what Jenny had told him, they were capable enough to handle themselves.

The only one allowed to get involved was Jenny since she was closest to the situation, but that was only if it was necessary. And that otherwise, they were to keep an eye on the situation and destroy any Kraang that might be there and get rid of all the evidence in that lab by their usual means.

The redhead agreed, though wanting to do more. And so, if anything else, she'd at last try to drop some hints to help the turtles figure things out like she was prone to do. So as soon as she left the Utrom facility, she sent April a text to let her know that she had a theory about how the monkey might actually be Dr. Rockwell.

And that if she was right and April trusted her instincts, that April would be able to confirm this theory. Jen couldn't help thinking that, with training and dedication, April could hone that instinctual "feeling" she got into something most warriors trained very hard to obtain, instead of just letting it go to waste like Jen had seen some do.

However, April thought it was a bit weird that Jenny asked her to keep it to herself until they had more information. The ginger thought the theory was a bit farfetched, but was shocked to find that the redhead had been right in assuming that April would figure it out after she and the turtles went to find the monkey mutant.

April couldn't help but feel that the mutant wasn't just some mindless beast, but somehow human. Or at least, he had been until he somehow ended up all mutated. Since Jenny had her own work to do Guardian in training wise, she couldn't attend the whole plan to catch the monkey, so April kept her up to date via texts.

As well as telling the redette that the turtles now had phones. But Raph and Mikey had sent Jenny texts prior to this and she told April she knew already. Donatello would've sent Jen a text, but he wasn't quite sure what to say, and so he just added her to his contact list instead.

Mikey gladly handed over all the turtles new numbers to Jenny though, as she wanted to make sure she could contact them if something happened. She sent a text to Donnie asking how he was doing, and he said he was doing much better, and even thanked her for the medicine as it was the polite thing to do.

Jen smiled some and told him it was no problem. And after that, Jenny asked how the case was going. He told her that they took Rockwell back to Dr. Falco for him to take care of him, and that the case seemed pretty much solved. But confessed that something didn't quite sit right with him.

April had told Jen back in the alleyway while Donnie was blacked out that he had managed to snatch a flash drive, and so the redhead asked if there was anything on there about the purchase of a monkey; hoping and being pretty sure Donnie would probably catch on once he looked.

Donnie asked why, and she explained that she had a feeling there wouldn't be any, since she was doing her own research into the matter. So he looked into it and found that there wasn't any mention of a monkey being used in Rockwell's experiments. Only monkey DNA samples…

And as he sat there reading this information over while his brothers ate pizza, Donnie brought this curious bit of information to their attention, and they all realized that it was Dr. Rockwell who had broken out of he cage and that it must've been Dr. Falco who'd put him there.

As they hurried off to the lab of the two scientists, Donatello sent a text to Jen confirming what she'd hypothesized, and that they were on their way to handle it. Biting her bottom lip in thought, Jen wished them good luck and chose to go with her team and observe; hoping that it wouldn't become necessary for her to intervene.

The redhead smirked some that Donnie had come to the same conclusion she had. Dropping hints like that just seemed easier than trying to get them to believe her theories, since even April didn't seem to think they made much sense.

The night had become stormy outside, as thunder and lightening accompanied the rain that fell down hard, while the young ninja and her team hurried to keep an eye on what was going on.

Danny voiced his worry that he hoped it didn't get bad enough that they needed to get involved, as that meant it had gotten pretty bad, and Jen couldn't help but silently agree as she picked up her pace.

And as the thunder rumbled and the lightening flashed across the dark night, Dr. Falco was taking full advantage of the mad scientist atmosphere to perfect a special neurochemical he'd been working on.

He grabbed a rather wicked looking syringe filled with a neon green liquid, and with sinister intent, Victor approached the chair that looked like it belonged in a torture chamber that was currently holding the former Dr. Rockwell, and mercilessly pierced through to inject the substance directly into Rockwell's brain.

The mutant monkey growled and howled as he struggled, but to no avail as the restraints held fast! All the while, the demented doctor worked; injecting all of the green liquid into his former co-workers cranium.

"Oh, stop struggling, Tyler. You were always so _dramatic_." Falco taunted twistedly; having his own reasons for why he was enjoying tormenting the man turned monkey mutant.

But he didn't want to think about those reasons now; he wanted to savor the sweet moment of his vengeance as he slowly pulled back the plunger on the needle, withdrawing a bright blue concoction of his own design. Well, he supposed he should give SOME credit to his idiotic ex-colleague.

He held up the fruit of all his labor and loss and marveled at the sight of it. And as the lightening flashed in through the window, and the eerie blue glow from the chemical in the syringe shone down upon his face, Dr. Falco's mad grin looked even more menacing than before.

Finally! The means to gain telepathic abilities was finally and quite literally in his hand! Placing the cool tip of the needle to his throat, he slid it in and shuddered as he felt the psychic neurochemical coursing through him, as his mind was opened up to a whole new world of possibility!

His blue eyes became bloodshot and his last shreds of sanity were overcome with exhilaration at his accomplishment. Victor threw his head back and laughed maniacally in that spooky baritone of his. He took a moment to try and use his powers and sensed he had guests, just as one of them spoke.

"All right, Falco! We've had enough of your-" Leonardo began to say before Raphael sarcastically butt in. "Do not say, 'monkeying around'." He warned as he looked like he was half tempted to smack their leader. "I wasn't going to!" Leo lied lamely.

"Yes, you _were_!" Falco said in astonishment as he could hear the turtles thoughts. "It's over, Falco! We know it was you who mutated Rockwell!" Donnie exclaimed. He couldn't help but be a bit disturbed by the way the mad scientists eyes looked.

"I used him as a guinea pig." Victor told them as if they were all having a nice conversation about candy and pizza; being in the ecstatic mood he was in because his serum worked.

"Well, it didn't work. You turned him into a monkey." Michelangelo pointed out so helpfully as he spoke in a scolding manner with his hands on his hips. His brothers gave him a "Seriously?" type of look at that.

"The psychic neurochemical I extracted from his mutant brain is changing me. Your minds are opening up to me!" The demented doctor told them as he curled and uncurled his hands into fists excitedly.

"So this was your plan all along." Donnie accused with narrowed eyes. "Of course. No man can defeat you when you know his every thought." Falco explained with a hand behind his back; his posture composed and ready for whatever they threw at him.

"Oh, really? Then you must know I'm gonna smack-" Raphael began smartly. "Smack the white off my lab coat?" The not so good doctor chuckled lightly. "How humorous!"

Victor had to give them one thing, at least these turtles didn't seem as stupid as his students had been. Well... except for _her_... No! He needed to focus! There would be time for those thoughts later, Victor chided himself.

"Lucky guess! Hi-yah!" Raphael shouted as he took off in a dead run at the irritating scientist; wanting to pound him into the ground for having messed up his attempt to mock the guy.

But Falco merely chuckled and used his new psychic weapon to read Raphael's thoughts. And in combination with what his dear Kari had taught him not too long ago, the mad genius easily outmaneuvered the angry turtle with such skill that it only further aggravated Raph.

"WHAT?!" The turtle gasped in disbelief. How the shell had some GEEK dodged that?! Oh, that nerd did NOT just taunt him with the "come at me" gesture, the red banded turtle scowled, before carelessly letting his anger get the better of him and charged in again.

But still Falco managed to out step and move him to avoid his attacks; laughing and clicking his tongue tauntingly as the scientist tutted and wagged his finger at the turtle to further throw him off.

And in doing so, the overly irate terrapin got his sai stolen from him, and ended up being taken out with it as Falco dealt him a swift and heavy blow to the face, before kicking him across the lab at his brothers like he was a soccer ball.

Next up was Leonardo; who as usual, fought as valiantly as he could. But now Dr. Falco had a weapon to use in combination with his ability to dodge so that he could deflect attacks and even counter.

"Whoa! It's like he's psychic!" Mikey exclaimed in awe as he and Donnie got up from where Raph had bowled them over. "He _is _psychic shell brain. That's what he just said!" Donnie chastised in annoyance.

"Oh, yeah, I kinda tuned out when he did his whole 'I'm evil, blah, blah, blah' thing. Heh." The youngest confessed comically; his mind having drifted off as he wondered what Danny was doing later. But he and Donnie had to quickly duck when Falco sent Leo's swords flying passed their heads.

And then, there were two, as the two youngest turtles watched their leader get taken out with a blow to the head; wondering where the heck a scientist learned to fight like that! Even if he was psychic, this was just insane!

"How are we going to fight him if he can read our minds?" Donnie asked; grasping at straws for what he and Mikey could do since no one else was left to fight. "No prob. I'm good at this." Mikey assured coolly.

"I just have to fight without thinking! Wait a minute, how do I fight without thinking?! Oh, no! Now I'm thinking about not thinking!" The distressed turtle grabbed at his head as he tried to figure out what to do.

But then a loud thud and an "OW!" put the bubbly ninja out of the game; as Falco had come up behind him and simply knocked Mikey out with the butt of the sai he'd _liberated_ from the red banded turtle.

Annnnnd then there was... Donnie; who was pretty creeped out by the way Falco was insanely grinning at him as he slowly cornered the turtle. "A man who can read minds is unstoppable. Once I dispose of you, no one will be able to stand in my way." Falco drawled ominously.

"We'll see about that." The purple banded turtle said skeptically as he brandished his bo staff, and charged in to lay down his own barrage of attacks. However, with the way his mind was almost always thinking of things, he was having about as much luck as his brothers and ended up getting tossed against a wall with his own weapon.

"I reeeeeally must admire that complex brain of yours. You come up with so many ideas!" Falco complimented; genuinely impressed and wondering for a small second what he would find if he tried to read Karina's mind. "Too bad I can see them all coming." He finished somewhat snidely as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"By the way, do you really think you have a chance with April?" The graying ravenet couldn't help snarking; as he was still quite upset and embittered about how things had gone between him and his favorite former student that he felt rather cynical and like making someone he could sort of relate to feel just as lousy as he did.

But that was the straw that broke the turtles shell in this case, and it only strengthened Don's resolve to beat this guy. "I can do this. Just have to fight without thinking." Donnie told himself as he began to chant "No thinking. No thinking."

Falco laughed at the turtles pathetic attempts as he watched all the moves Donnie could think of fly by him in ghostly blue flashes. Soon though, he began to grow weary of the brainy terrapin.

But then, as he calmed his mind, Donatello managed to come at the doctor without the other knowing what he was going to do. This of course freaked the cynical scientist out and threw him off his game as Falco was stunned by the turtles attacks.

However, surprise quickly turned to rage at how his telepathic powers had suddenly become so useless, as Victor tried to fight against a fellow genius; only to be beaten by him and knocked into the very cage that he'd had Rockwell in not long ago.

Having come to, his brothers congratulated Donnie on his good work, as Mikey grabbed the ooze. But when they turned to see what Falco knew about the Kraang and the mutagen, they were shocked to find that Dr. Falco was gone!

Mutant Rockwell however, was still very much there. But they couldn't be cruel and hurt him or anything, so without knowing what else to do, they let him go. But as Raphael pointed out; the fact that Rockwell reacted negatively to negative thoughts, that New York City maaaaaaay not been the best place for them to have released him into. But, too little, too late!

"I'm sure... He'll be okay..." Leo assured; uncertain of even his own words as the sounds of people screaming and crashing and other horrible noises came from where Rockwell had gone.

Meanwhile, Akira and her team arrived just in time to see the fight, now in full Guardian garb; keeping hidden in the shadows outside as they watched through the windows.

Akira reminded them every time they looked tempted to go help, that they were supposed to stay put and observe, as they had to play it smart and stealthy. Despite this though, her teammates weren't too happy about having to stay out of it, and shared Jen's desire to just go kick this Falco guys butt.

She felt bad for Danny the most since the ash-brunet was obviously bothered by having to watch the goofy turtle get hurt, but was glad he trusted Mikey to be able to take care of himself like she did with her turtle friends.

Jenny knew however, that if ever Danny saw a reason to, he'd probably say to hell with it all and rush to the young turtles side to make sure that Mikey didn't end up in any more Chris Bradford type incidents again… And for that, she couldn't blame him. Even Jen had grown more protective of the bubbly turtle.

Apparently Dr. Falco now possessed some kind of psionic ability where he could read the moves of the turtles, and therefore be able to counter their attacks, and easily defeat them.

Which meant Jenny couldn't go to help unless they absolutely needed her to, because if Falco brought his inability to read her mind to light, it could cause a lot of unwanted explaining to take place. And the redhead didn't even want to think of what pulling at that particular mutant powered thread would lead to.

By the end of the fight, the only one left was Donatello who, much to Jen's surprise, managed to keep from thinking in order to defeat the psionic scientist; at least from what she could discern of what Kaia could hear with her enhanced hearing. However, when the turtles turned their backs on Falco to celebrate their victory, the man snuck away.

Unfortunately for him, Jenny was ready and waiting for just such a tactic, and so Akira sent her and Kaia to follow him from the building to see what he was going to do, and if he might lead them to anything Kraang related.

Jen was reluctant to leave, but Aki reasoned that with the redheads kinetic ability to shield herself from people with telepathic abilities that it would make more sense for Jen to follow him since she would be invisible.

And that if the guy tried to read Kaia's mind that he'd probably end up stunned long enough from the demented assassins warped mind for them to capture him or get away if they needed to.

However, such was not the case when the two reported back to Akira. All Falco did was run home and have a bit of an angry rant about the meddlesome turtles that only Kaia could hear.

Karina showed up and told them that she would take over watching Falco from there, which was why Kaia and Jen returned to help go through the lab and cleanse it of anything that could lead back to the Kraang or the Utroms.

But while the young Guardians in training set to work, the turtles were enjoying some well deserved downtime in the lair. "Hey, April, you, uh, wanna hang out tonight?" Donnie asked as he leaned coolly (or so he thought) against the doorway to the room that was behind him where he had his flowchart concealed.

"Uh, that sounds great Donnie, but I can't." April declined as politely as she could while rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm training with Splinter to be a kunoichi." She told him rather giddily.

"Oh..." He mused for a moment before leaning into the room behind him to check his flowchart as he mumbled to himself. "Well, then, maybe we can train together sometime." He offered as he turned back to her; trying to give her his most charming smile.

"Sounds great!" April said as she quietly pressed her hands together. But then an idea popped into her head. _'OH! I can't wait to tell Jenny! Maybe she can help me train?!' _The ginger excitedly thought as she hurried off; leaving Donatello to think that he had finally won.

"You see? Ha ha!" He laughed geekily. "My flowchart is AWESOME!" He whooped jubilantly as Raph rolled his eyes and went back to reading a comic that he'd borrowed from Kaia; as he found out that they both loved comics and also that the orangette worked in a comic book shop.

Kaia was pretty cool about lending him things so long as he didn't mess them up. But with Raph, one had to take it with a grain of salt. So long as she made sure not to accidentally lend Raph one of her little brothers comics, Kaia didn't much care as she wasn't some hardcore geek about it like Danny.

Seeing as Danny was making good progress in befriending Michelangelo by sharing in his interests and lending him comics, the sunny ash-brunet suggested to Kaia that maybe she'd make friends more easily with Raphael if they were able to figure out what they had in common and work on bonding over it.

Well, so far so good was all Kaia could say. She was glad they were starting to learn more about each other. The orangette hated having to have Jen there as a buffer because it wasn't fair to the redhead.

Even Raphael had to admit that he disliked having Jenny there for such a silly purpose, but… Well, he found it a bit difficult just to think about being alone with Kaia, much less trying to talk to the secret assassin when Jen wasn't there to help him out.

Jen didn't mind helping out though, so until Raph felt comfortable, Jen would back up her fellow Red and stick with it. It was certainly a heck of a lot better than being a human buffer for April and Donnie.

They were a bit too hostile for her taste. And seeing as the other pair of friends that Jenny buffered for was a hotheaded ninja and a psychotic assassin, that was saying something.

But getting back to the mutant powered teens in question… Akira and her team finished up what they needed too. They left only enough incriminating evidence of the fact that Dr. Falco was experimenting on a human for the human authorities to find, so he could be dealt with as the humans saw was fit, before leaving to go hang out for a bit, and then parting ways for the night.

Jen sent a text to Donatello asking how things went despite having secretly seen it all. And since the turtle was in such a good mood from finally feeling like he'd won some time alone with April thanks to the chart he'd made, Donnie didn't mind telling his fellow geek about it.

And in no time after that, the authorities were alerted by a couple of anonymous callers (Jen and April; as Jen was trying to teach April a little about being covert yet helpful) saying the trouble involving the giant monkey creature being on the loose had originated from a certain laboratory.

Since there were numerous complaints being called in about some rampaging beast, with some of their own men having seen it, the cops sent out a few people to investigate, as it was the best lead they really had.

After finding what they did in Dr. Falco's lab, the sneaky scientist had the cops looking for him; his reputation crumbling into ruins and the man having to go into hiding. But what would become of Dr. Victor Falco, was a tale for another day…

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><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

** If you caught my little joke involving the blindfold made out of bandages and you've seen the episode "I, Monster" Lmfao kudos to you. Also, my OC Kari is for a fic I'm working on that I hope to get around to finishing and posting up eventually. XD If you're interested in it, just select the Follow option and select to follow me as an Author instead of following the story so you'll be updated when I do publish/post it. ^_^**

**Dr. Falco is one of my favorite villains in the TMNT series and only ties with Xever as my top favorite. X3 I hope you've been enjoying my retelling of the TMNT cartoon, and that you'll continue to stick with it as there's plenty further to go down this turtletastic rabbit-hole than one might presume! X3**


	22. Eggcellent Ideas and Misadventures

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Just in time for the holidays! X3 For all you lovely readers out there, in exchange for this chapter, how about showin' da luv and givin' a gal some sweet reviews, hmm? ^_^ They tempt me to edit and update quicker! Kuwahahahahah! Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrate 'em! May your holidays be turtle-tastic!**

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><p><strong>"Eggcellent Ideas and Misadventures"<strong>

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><p>Having hacked and copied over all the information onto a flash drive, Jenny erased whatever needed to be deleted on the Dr. Falco's computer before they had left the lab. Back at home, she hid the USB with the others she had stashed in her bedroom.<p>

The redheaded teen not really having time to look over it right away, and not exactly feeling like it since the boffin was rather tired from a job that was as well done as it could be.

After getting some well deserved rest and finishing up school, and even getting family time with Casey, Jenny felt like spending some time with her fellow human mutants. Akira was busy at work, and Kaia went off somewhere to do a job, so the only one currently free was Danny.

And since having recovered from his injuries, the ash-brunet was pretty psyched to get back into shape, and had been working hard so that he could go back to his "hero work" at being the friendly neighborhood Nightwatcher.

Having become a Guardian in training did nothing to deter Danny Astin's love of being a hero like in his comic books. It had helped him to see that not everything was black and white, but a sunny guy like Dan always tried to see the bright side no matter how dark things seemed to get or be.

Jenny asked if he wanted to hang out and do something when calling him, so Danny suggested going out and doing a little patrolling. After agreeing, the two of them met up at Danny's; with Jen in the disguise she wore when out with the turtles, and then the two of them headed out to see what trouble they could find.

It wasn't the first time the two of them teamed up like that, and frankly, Jen and the rest of her team liked having any excuse to be out and about, and maybe put the smack down on someone who deserved it.

And in the case of the punks they came upon that night, they definitely had it coming. Like Kaia and Jenny, Danny has an alternate disguise that differed somewhat from the Guardian uniform. It resembled the outfit he'd been wearing before getting recruited by the Utroms.

It was a formfitting black leather looking suit that was styled similarly to a motorcyclist outfit, with boots, gloves and a belt. Upon his head Danny wore a rather dull gunmetal grey colored helmet that came down to a point in the front passed his chin.

The visor was silvery black, and it had a small light on either side of the top to aid in disorientating his opponents and illuminate what he needed to. His suit was covered in various segments by thin armor that matched the color of his helmet; covering his forearms, boots, kneecaps, shoulders, and torso.

He wore a black backpack with straps that crossed his chest in an X shape. Like Jenny's, it was to carry things Danny might require like rope and a first aid kit. As Nightwatcher's armor was made of the same sturdy yet flexible substance of his symbiote suit, it didn't make noise like his old costume used to; for which the ash-brunet was psyched since it made it easier to get around more stealthily.

Danny had been fighting crime as the Nightwatcher for quite some time, and had managed to earn himself a bit of reputation as a vigilante. Since the upgrade to his old costume and gaining allies in his teammates who liked to join him on his patrols, it only helped his status.

Like Nightwatcher, his teammates were also mentioned in occasional News segments, if only by mention; as Kaia never gave her alias since it would be pretty stupid to let people know which city the assassin known as Savage resided in.

But even so, it wasn't often a city got a hero or heroes in this case, and most certainly not one like Nightwatcher who dressed up like he'd come straight off the pages of a comic book.

Every once in a while, when helping someone or stopping a baddie, they would ask who the heck he was, and Danny would reply using the eerie voice scrambling trick like Kaia did and that Jen could do if she needed to, would simply reply that he was the Nightwatcher and leave.

Which was how his alter-ego gained a title back when he was first starting out; though thankfully his mask back the muffled his voice enough so it wasn't very recognizable.

Even the turtles had heard the name mentioned when they were watching television. Being the comic book lover that he was, Michelangelo was quite a Nightwatcher fan, and now that they were able to go topside, he couldn't help but secretly hope to meet him one day.

Which was a bit ironic really, considering he was already friends with Danny; who was the valiant vigilante. But Danny had no idea that Mikey liked him or rather Nightwatcher, as the turtle stopped mentioning the hero at all after his brothers had severely mocked him and made him feel silly for liking someone like Nightwatcher the way that he did.

True, the other three turtles thought it was kinda nice not to be the only ones trying to keep the city safe, but they were still Mikey's brothers and felt compelled to tease the youngest terrapin for being such a gushing little fanboy. Though mostly because of how annoying they thought he could be when he was chattering on about his hero.

Like most comic heroes, Daniel tried to steer clear of talking about his alter-ego to avoid any slipups, so between the two of them and the fact that they had so many other things to talk about, the subject thankfully (for Danny) hadn't come up yet.

Besides, not many really knew what the Nightwatcher's costumed form looked like. And as the hero and his teammates typically jumped most of them ninja style before they could be seen, not all the good Danny and his friends did was reported on the news. Plus, they did try hard NOT to get noticed.

But sometimes it couldn't be helped, and Danny's vigilante status had been established long before the whole Guardian in training thing, so it couldn't really be helped much in that regard.

When they weren't riding on the motorcycle Jen tricked out for him that Danny only used for hero work, Nightwatcher and Trickshot patrolled the city by rooftop and sometimes by Danny teleporting them; although, he had to be careful and know where they were going or they might end up in the wrong place.

But since the four of them were still learning about their powers and how to hone them, mistakes happened and they had to do what they could to work around that. That night, the two teens caught a few creeps who were committing pretty petty crimes; like one guy and his buddy who robbed a liquor store.

As they took off down an alley, the two men were blinded by a pair of bright white lights that made them stumble back a ways, before they were attacked from behind by Trickshot; who used her symbiotic suit to form her bow into a bo staff to see if she could beat some sense into the two crooks.

Once they had the idiots tied up and called the authorities on them, they left to return the ill-gotten booty back to the store however they could without being seen, before hurrying off just as ninja-like as they'd appeared to see what other good there was for them to do.

Although it was New York City, a place where all sorts of mobs, thugs, creeps, aliens, mutants and even a clan of ninjas lived, thankfully not every night was packed full of crime and action.

And so, once they began to wear down and ran out of people to help and baddies to bag, they grabbed a bite to eat at Jen's place and parted ways for the evening once making plans to do it again when they had time.

Meanwhile, when Jenny wasn't out and about with her teammates, it seemed that the surface world nascent turtles were apparently enjoying the freedom and perks that came with having cell phones; what with the texts and pics they sent their scarlet haired human friend.

Jen, Mikey and Raph were having a joined, private chat on MyFace after Mikey said it would be cool if they could have group chats instead of separate texts, and Jenny set it up and told him about it.

The two turtles were currently complaining about how annoying Donnie was starting to get with that stupid flowchart of his to help him get time with April. Jenny couldn't help but sweat drop at the fact that the brainy turtle had actually gone through with that idea, as well as seeing as Donnie had accidentally gotten the idea from something Jen had said.

So to try and secretly make amends, Jenny tried distracting the purple banded turtle during one of her "guided" trips to the lair, with a question she had been wondering for some time. Which was, "Hey, how come you guys don't have smoke bombs like other ninjas?"

"Uhhhhhh…" Donatello sweat dropped, as he was thrown for a bit of a loop on that one when Jen came popping into his lab to ask; not having considered making them since he still wasn't all that used to being out of the lair and been too April obsessed to give it any thought.

But now that it was pointed out to him, Donnie couldn't see why not. At the very least they'd be fun to make, and at best they'd come in handy for getting away from the amount of foes they were accumulating, or whoever they needed to.

"I bet _April_ would think they were cool." Jennifer added slyly, and secretly smirked like the Cheshire cat when the turtle brightened with a small blush and shouted "I'LL DO IT!" as he took to paper and pencil to sketch out some ideas.

So to help distract him from pestering everyone with his chart, Jen hung out with him in his lab to help him come up with and construct something simple and easy; with ingredients that the turtles could get easy access to.

The only thing Donnie had trouble finding were things like flash powder. But that was easily solved when Jenny let him have some of hers; telling him she used it in her own experiments, which was true, except that they were usually in the lab at the Utrom facility where she'd, heh, "borrowed" it.

Jenny thought that working with Donatello would've ended up being irksome or unpleasant with the attitude he had toward the redette and everything, but as usual, since April wasn't around, it was like Donnie was a totally different turtle.

And their shared passion for science and building things allowed the two geeks to end up having fun working together without even realizing it. Everyone breathed a little easier as their smoke bomb experiment did manage to tone down Donnie's flowchart madness.

Which meant that no one really dared to go near the lab while the two of them were in there; especially April, who would turn right around and leave as she didn't want to disturb them from "bonding", since the ginger thought it was nice they seemed to be getting along so well.

Though, even with project to distract him, the lovelorn turtle was not so easily swayed. Despite the ninja smoke bomb thing to keep him busy, and how one could hardly distract him from what he was doing; you couldn't stop him from taking a break if he knew April was around.

Fortunately for, well, pretty much everyone, the brainy turtle stopped using the flowchart, because the ginger cleverly continued to outwit him and his supposedly unbeatable chart after having asked why Donnie seemed more persistent and coordinated than usual and his brothers blabbed about that troublesome chart.

It wasn't long after April started her training with Master Splinter, that Jenny got a call from the friendly ginger. April had sounded pretty excited when she asked Jenny if she could come by the lair, since she had something really important to tell the her scarlet haired friend, but couldn't do it anywhere else but there and wouldn't explain why.

Jen said she would so long as it was okay with the turtles. And when Leo and the other two pestered Donnie into agreeing, it was unanimous, so April met up with her to blindfold Jen and lead her to the lair like last time.

She could've found it herself, but Jenny thought that for now it was best to keep things like her photographic memory to herself, as some things one had to play close to the vest.

As soon as they got to the lair, she felt April hurriedly remove her blindfold for her. April was pretty psyched to tell her the exciting news she had, and couldn't really wait to tell her friend and sister figure what it was.

"Alright, um, so first of all, there's someone I want to you meet. But, uh, don't freak out, okay?" April said a bit frantically in her giddiness while she took Jen by the hand and led her through the lair and up the steps toward a room.

"Hey Jen! What up?" Mikey tried to ask in greeting as the terrapins turned to see what was going on, but April cut him off with a "No time! Talk later!" as she hurried by them; dragging the poor redhead behind her. Though Jen did manage to get in a small wave and an apologetic smile.

As Jen passed the turtles, she saw that they were hanging out watching a show that she recognized as that goofy "Space Heroes" series. She only knew of it because it was something Danny and Akira liked to watch; though thankfully, Aki didn't try to quote the show during any battles they ended up in like Leonardo did.

The four brothers all exchanged curious looks before getting up to go see what the heck that was all about. April slid back the elegantly decorated oriental style paper door and pulled Jenny into what looked like a pretty cool dojo with a tree in it; closing it behind them as she went.

Jenny paused to take it in as it was quite a lovely looking room considering it was located in a sewer, and she hadn't been in here before. "Whoa…" Jen gasped quietly, before she felt April release her hand to go and gently call to someone through another door on the other side of the large room.

"Master Splinter? I'm back." And no sooner had April spoken, did the door slide open and out walked a very tall creature, who appeared to be a rat humanoid of some kind. He must also be a mutant like the turtles, or so Jenny assumed. Though, she had to say, that for a human-rat mutant, the man had a certain handsomeness to him.

Splinter casually strolled up to the redhead; a small yet friendly smile upon his furry face. Jen was so glad that Casey wasn't there with her, or he would've ended up freaking out from that cute fear of rats that he had never gotten over.

"Ah, you must be this Jennifer Jones whom I've heard my sons and Mr. O'Neil speaking of?" The older ninja inquired genially as he stroked his long beard thoughtfully between his long, clawed fingers.

Jenny had to look up as he was quite tall, but returned the smile with one of her own, as unlike her twin, she didn't have any problem with rodents. The redette did have certain things she feared, though mostly it was-… Ugh! No, Jen didn't want to think about that now. She was supposed to be meeting the father figure of her friends.

"Yes sir, I am. I take it you're their sensei?" The redhead queried just as cordially. "Indeed, they are both my sons and my students. And as they do, you may call me Splinter." He told her with a polite bow of his head.

"Then you may call me Jen or Jenny if you like." The redhead replied in kind as her smile brightened. And the boffin took him by surprise when she gave her elder a respectful bow. "It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Splinter-san." Jen added; speaking in Japanese and causing April to be just as taken aback as her sensei.

"You… speak Japanese?!" Splinter asked; pleasantly surprised as he replied in his native tongue. "Hai! My best friend is from Japan and she taught me as we grew up together. Did I speak it well?" Jen was now back to speaking in English, as she noticed how the ginger looked like she felt left out and Jen didn't want to be rude.

"Heh, very well I would say." Splinter commended; happy to have someone besides his sons to whom he could speak to in the language of his homeland. "Dude! Did you know Jen could speak Japanese?!" Mikey whispered in a flabbergasted was to his smartypants brother.

The four of them were outside peeking through a crack in the door; wondering why April had not only brought Jenny there, but had introduced her to their father figure and mentor.

"No… I didn't." Donnie grumbled; just as shocked as his brothers, but also feeling a bit irked he didn't know that about the redhead for some reason. Hmm… It seemed that even though they seemed to be on friendlier terms now, that the brainy turtle still had yet to figure the redette out yet. He wasn't sure what to make of that, and went back to eavesdropping.

"Arigato gozaimasu (Thank you very much), Splinter-san." Jen said with an incline of her head, before turning to April. "As happy as I am to have met Master Splinter, I can't help but get the feeling there was another reason you invited me here."

The ginger gave a nod and grinned. "Yeah! He's started teaching me how to be a kunoichi! Pretty cool, huh? I wanted to see if I could really do it before I told you." April struck what she thought was a cool ninja pose, and Jen chuckled softly.

"Very cool. And it's awesome that you're learning how to defend yourself if you intend to keep getting wrapped up in all this crazy Kraang junk." The secret ninja said supportively. April took a step closer and took Jen by the hands. "And it would be even cooler if we could train together!"

April had been so overjoyed at finally getting to learn how to kick butt ninja style that she thought being able to do it with her friend, so the ginger wouldn't feel alone in her endeavor, that the redheads smile melting away into an apologetic look wasn't something the ginger had counted on.

"Oh, April… I-I don't know… I mean, what if Splinter-san doesn't want to teach me? I wouldn't want to be a burden or anything. And plus my schedule is pretty hectic as it is." The Guardian in training reasoned as she ran a hand through her hair with a look of uncertainty.

Jenny really appreciated the sentiment behind the offer, but she didn't really have time to waste on pretending to learn how to be a ninja; nor the dangers that came with that kind of ruse, when she had her own training to do. Besides, it wasn't fair to Haruhi-sensei, and the redette respected him too much to disrespect him like that.

"Aww! But I'm sure he wouldn't mind, would you Master Splinter?!" April asked; giving the tall rodent humanoid her best puppy dog eyes. Splinter chortled at the look; being reminded a little of his sons.

"If Jen wishes to learn, I would be more than happy to teach her. But… perhaps she requires some time to think it over?" He regarded her kindly and the redette smiled some and gave a nod. "It would be much appreciated." Jen confirmed; trying to think of a polite way to decline.

"Very well. When you have decided, I shall be here." Splinter was saying, as the whispering of his sons outside caught his sensitive ears again and made them give a slight twitch at the sound.

With his ninja speed, he quickly moved and opened the door to reveal them all stacked up on one another where they had been peeking. Startled, they fell over and then sweat dropped upon seeing the two humans and their sensei looking down at them.

April had her arms crossed and didn't look very pleased, while Splinter and Jenny looked slightly amused. "You were _eavesdropping_ on us?!" The ginger asked hotly; wondering why they didn't just come in with her. It wasn't like she was trying to keep it a secret or something.

Jenny giggled and gave her quick-tempered friend a pat on the shoulder. "Relax, April. They didn't mean any harm. Did ya guys?" She turned to look at the four turtles who looked like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"No way! We just wanted to know what was goin' on." Mikey told them. "Yeah, the way you rushed in here like you did, it was kinda weird." Raph added aloofly; feeling a tad irritated at April's accusing tone.

Donatello was frowning at Jen however; making the redette take notice and regard him bemusedly. "Master Splinter, are you _really_ gonna teach _her_? I mean, April I get… but why her?" The words came tumbling from his mouth before the turtle could stop himself.

He didn't like this one bit. It was getting to be too much. If Master Splinter took on Jenny as a student and she got to train alongside April, who knows how much more the ginger would prefer Jen to him.

The redhead's eyes narrowed a few fractions at the turtles offending words. "And just what is _that_ supposed to mean?" The boffins tone was cool yet annoyed while she took a step toward Donatello; a calm before the storm that even Casey Jones knew better than to provoke any further.

Out of the corner of his eye, Splinter noticed the subtle shifting in the redheads body language and stance that suggested the teen was poised to pounce if given a reason. He wanted to tell his son to behave, but at the same time he was very curious to see what the human might do.

"Well, the training it takes to become a real ninja is pretty tough. April _obviously_ has the potential to make a great ninja. But _you_? Eh… No offense _Jennifer_, heh, but I just don't think you'd cut it." Donnie oh so callously clarified in a smug tone that even Raph thought was messed up; crossing his arms over his plastron (chest) aloofly.

"Donnie!" April gasped in a scolding tone; she couldn't believe the geeky turtle could've said something like that. In fact, none of them did. Jenny was actually stunned. Where the heck was all this hostility suddenly coming from?

They'd been getting along just fine up until now. Hell, just the day before they'd been chatting about the usual nerdy tech stuff; like how maybe eggshells might be a viable container for Donnie's smoke bombs! So what changed? Why all of a sudden was Donatello going back to acting like more of a jerk than usual?

Was he freakin' bipolar or something? No… there'd be other symptoms accompanied by that, at least from what Jen had read when looking it up in various sources upon first suspecting that to be the case. Or did he just store all his angst somewhere in his shell? Think Jenny! What _usually_ set Donnie boy off?

Then it clicked. _April_… It almost always came back to the somewhat whiny ginger. Jenny exhaled quietly. Within the minor seconds it took for the redhead to process this, she had taken a calming breath to try and keep her cool; a technique that she'd learned from all the years of having to remain levelheaded.

Jenny took a quick few steps; stopping right in front of Donatello so that they were now face to face with about four inches or so between them, and making the turtle blink at having not expected her to do that, much less having moved so fast. "So…" She began in a tone of perturbing amusement.

"That's what you _really_ think, is it?" Donnie had been tempted to try and back up when he realized how close she was, but didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten to him.

Composing himself so that he was retaliating against her taunting smirk with a heated glare, Donnie stood his ground. "Yeah. I _do_." Jen leaned back a little as her lips curled into a grin; like she knew something he didn't, and he REALLY hated that and how he couldn't help thinking how oddly attractive it made her look in the back of his mind.

"Well then. Why don't we put that to the test?" Those green eyes sparkled with mischief as Don made a confused little "Huh?" when she stood up straight to put a little space between them; her hands on her hips as she stood there sassily.

"You heard me, Donnie boy. Time to put your proverbial money where your big, gap toothed mouth is. Unless… you don't think you can win?" Jenny taunted almost sweetly as an idea formed in her mind, while the others watched with baited breath.

Donatello gave a growl as he clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "_Gap toothed_?!" He screeched irately as flames blazed in his eyes. "Oh, that's it, you, you… scarlet menace! It's time I taught you a lesson!" Don fumed as he removed his staff and headed towards the open area of the dojo so they could throw down.

The redhead was in even more of a mood than usual to mess with Donnie after what he'd said and the challenge he'd issued. And as a Jones, it was only fair that Jen took him up on it, as she followed him over to stand across from him in that infuriatingly impish manner of hers.

Unfortunately for Donnie, between what Jen had learned from her peculiar and challenging life growing up, as well as her ninja training and hanging out with sly friends like Kaia and Akira, the redhead had quite a few tricks in her mercurial menagerie.

"Well come on then, _Professor_ _Know-It-All_. School's in session, and I'm in need of _corporal punishment_." Jen played wickedly with a wink, as she turned and stuck her butt out ever so slightly and posed like a naughty school girl in need of a good spanking; her voice seductively dipping a few octaves.

Seeing this made the purple banded ninja blush furiously and scowl, as he couldn't keep his eyes from admiring how aesthetic the redhead looked poised like that, with the way the long scarlet locks she kept tied back fell over her slender shoulder and her bangs cast a faint shadow over those bright green eyes to make them look darker.

And how those _long_, graceful legs led up to a cute caboose that was hugged in _all the right _places by the black denim jeans the human wore; making the shy, slight shut-in of a nerd feel like he might get a nosebleed if he were an anime character, as he tried to give himself a mental shake and remind himself the redhead was just being her usual trickster self and that there was _absolutely _no reason that what she was doing or saying should bother him the way it was. And _boy_ was it _bothering_ him!

Leo, Splinter and April got all red in the face as April covered her mouth to try and not giggle at the redheads antics. Raphael quickly covered Mikey's eyes as the red banded brother snickered so hard his whole body shook, and Master Splinter shook his head; wondering why youth these days had to behave so strangely.

Raphael had a good idea of how good a fighter Jenny's friend Kaia was. And unlike Donnie apparently, had actually paid attention when the impish redette fought alongside them, as the red banded turtle took the time to get to know his fellow Red and learn that Jen came from a tough neighborhood where learning to defend ones self and survive was key.

Which was something the sarcastic short turtle could respect. And so, unlike Donnie who didn't really get to know Jen beyond trying to use her to get into April's good graces and their occasional geek speak, Raph had an idea of how badly this was probably going to go for his smarty-pants younger brother; but couldn't help feeling Don had it coming with the way he treated the tolerant redhead.

"Shouldn't we do something to stop them?" April asked worriedly once her mirth subsided and she realized that Jen was about to fight a ninja turtle; hoping her friend Jenny wouldn't get hurt by Donnie because of whatever silly issues he seemed to have with the redette.

"No. Let us see what comes of it, and hope that whatever it may be, that it is for the better." Splinter said in his usual sagely way as he stroked his beard and wondered which way the fight would go. He couldn't help getting the distinct feeling that the curious Jenny girl might have the upper hand here what with the _unique_ tactics she employed so far.

"Loser has to do something the winner wants them to. No limits." Jen stated as she stood a ways across from Donatello; composing herself and taking up that subtle stance again that could easily be mistaken as just a casual way of standing with how she pretended to examine her fingernails.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with already." The turtle spat acidly; even more flustered from the devilish display the redhead put on a moment ago. Jenny shrugged and then began moving toward him as the redette broke into… dance?! "If that's the way you want it." She sang in an upbeat tune.

Being taken completely off guard by this strange turn of events, Donatello was open for the sudden way she grabbed and threw him down onto the floor so that he was on his pastoral (stomach), as she continued to sing and say "Well there you go!", while quickly following the fallen turtle to the mat and pinning him down as she did the same to his arms when she caught them behind his back.

Everyone was rather dumbstruck by that; well, except for Master Splinter, who was only somewhat surprised by Jenny's method. Though he did find them to be rather entertaining ones.

Mikey looked confused most of all. "Uh, Sensei, what's… cor-por-al punishment?" The bubbly turtle inquired innocently as he looked up at his mentor with a finger held to his chin.

Splinter made an uncomfortable face before he opened his mouth to speak, not sure how to answer. But thankfully he didn't have to. "It's where they spank you." Raphael blurted aloofly, before tensing as he realized he probably shouldn't have said that.

"And how exactly do _you_ know this, Raphael?" Splinter asked with a raised eyebrow; knowing his sons were still pretty naïve about many things in the surface world. His hotheaded student got all red in the face.

"I… uh… television?" Raph more asked than answered, before quickly shuffling over to stand waaaay over beside Leo and April. Splinter only eyed his son more suspiciously before sighing and shaking his head. _'Teenagers.' _Their sensei thought exasperatedly.

"Heh, looks like I win!" The boffin beamed brightly down at Donnie, who turned his head to stare up at her; completely perplexed by what just happened. _'But… but how?!' _Was all Don could manage to think as he tried to struggle out of the hold to no avail.

But then, just as abruptly as she'd had him pinned, the redhead let go and she stood up; hands on her hips again in a rather triumphantly airy pose. "Well, looks like you were right after all, Donnie boy."

Wait… "Say what now?!" Don blurted bemusedly; almost falling back over as he got to his feet; having snubbed the hand she offered to assist him. "Yeah…I finally get what you meant." Jen continued on as if she hadn't heard him, while heading over to the others. "April does need the training more than I do."

Donnie started as his eyes bugged out and he looked at a complete loss for what to do. "But, but… THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT AT ALL!" He screamed in bewildered frustration; clutching at the sides of his head before flailing his arms around.

But Jenny wasn't listening; or at least pretending that she wasn't to mess with him further. "My sincerest apologies, Splinter-san, as though I'm sure you are quite an awesome teacher, it appears that training is not necessary." Jenny said very politely, as Akira and her family had taught her to do, while giving another bow.

Being rather pleased with having figured out a way to decline the offer without seeming rude, Jenny couldn't help grinning smugly on the inside. Even if Donnie had actually hurt her feelings a little with his callous comment, she supposed she owed this opportunity to him, so in its own weird way that sort of made up for it.

"But please take good care of April. I'm sure she'll become an excellent kunoichi under your tutelage." Trying not to chuckle, Splinter smiled softly and returned her bow with a slight one of his own.

"It does indeed appear as if you already have your own skill set, but I thank you for taking it easy on my son." The older ninja knew Jen could've taken advantage of the situation and actually hurt his son if Jenny was able to pin Donatello as easily as she had, but was pleased to see she wasn't that type of person. At least not towards his family or April.

"Heh, no problem. I just like messing with him when he asks for it like that. I don't wanna hurt him." Her cheeks dusted a light shade of pink as she reached up to run her fingers through her hair. Master Splinter was pretty cool in her book. He kinda reminded her of Haruhi sensei; whom she very much admired.

"I mean, if I hurt him every time he acted like a jerk, I'd run outta ointment in no time." It was Donatello's turn to blush at that, as his family and April found that funny enough to laugh lightly since it was pretty true.

He grumbled abashedly as he picked up his bo staff and holstered it. "Hey, since I'm here, why don't we go out to celebrate April starting her training to become a kunoichi?" The charismatic redhead asked as she gave the ginger a pat on the back; nearly knocking the shorter girl over and making April giggle.

"Heck yeah!" Mikey cried excitedly as he threw his arms in the air. "Sounds good to me." Raph added coolly. "Me too. What do you think, Master Splinter?" Leonardo said, turning to their sensei to ask for permission.

"You may go, but be careful." Splinter told them; much as he usually did since he loved his sons very much, even if he had to let them make mistakes to learn from them as he had just done with Donatello.

As Leo, April, Raph and Mikey all hurried off towards the entrance of the lair, the youngest brother looked to Raphael with a slight frown. "But I still don't get it. Why would Jenny want Donnie to spank her?" Mikey asked; still so very bemused.

Since having learned a few interesting items from having found a few magazines like Playboy in the trash during their trips to scavenge for stuff and having them hidden in his room, Raph knew a little about things of _that _nature.

The red banded ninja leaned over as they walked and put an arm around his siblings shoulders. "Heh, if you don't tell the others, I'll show ya on Donnie's computer later. 'Kay?" Raph smirked as he whispered to his naive little brother; thinking he should learn a little about the turtles and the bees (so to speak) since they _were_ healthy eighteen year olds and all.

"Okay!" Mikey replied back just as quietly; grinning excitedly about getting to learn something as they left the lair. Jenny stayed behind and turned to Donnie; who was standing there sulkily with his arms crossed and glaring down at the floor like a grumpy child.

"Sorry if I embarrassed you." The human apologized in a quiet, sweet way that made Donnie blink and gaze up at her in a puzzled manner. Why the heck was she apologizing? "Meh, it's not like it was a real fight anyway… you totally cheated." Don groused childishly.

"Well, you know what they say, Donnie boy. All's fair in love and war." The redhead said playfully with a small shrug. "Now stop pouting or I'll have to whoop you again." Jen gave him another wink that made his olive green cheeks glow a lovely shade of red, as she took the testy turtle by the hand and began to pull him with her so they could follow the others.

"Besides…" Jen added with an impish smirk as they headed out of the lair to catch up with the others, while Donnie couldn't help his body naturally reacting and following her despite how he was half tempted to protest at being pulled along like that.

At least, he would've if it hadn't been for the fact that Don couldn't help but find it felt good the way she held so securely yet gently onto his three fingered hand without so much as flinching or giving it an odd look like he'd seen April get.

His senses focused on the way Jen's soft skin felt against his and his mind having gone all gooey and confused again from her having winked at him seconds ago, as it made him recall her school girl pose and kinky comment from earlier.

"I still won, which means I get to make you do something I want." Donnie's eyes widened at the realization of the bet he'd so foolishly agreed to and began mentally face palming himself for having been so rash. Einstein only knows what the redette would want him to do. He hoped it wasn't something completely embarrassing.

"And remember, Donnie boy…" She giggled rather mischievous in a way he couldn't help thinking was cute. "_No limits_." The way Jen's voice lowered in a dark, silky manner like it had earlier made Donnie swallow hard and feel his face go at least three shades darker.

Gah! He both liked and hated when she did that to him, Donnie thought; not even sure if it was safe in his own mind to try and wonder what sort of implications a tone like that could possibly hold for him, and why the brainy turtle couldn't help but feel his heart beat faster.

By Darwin's beard, with the way this redheaded rascal kept baffling him, and making Donnie second guess himself and feel all those strange and mind bogglingly pleasant things, he was sure that Jenny was going to drive him insane one of these days. If she hadn't already anyway…

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**The song Jen was singing for those two short lines was "Surrender" by Ashlee Simpson cuz I thought it was funny and somewhat fitting. XD No matter how much Donnie wants or tries to dislike Jenny and fight against how she makes him feel, her charming ways keep temptingly pulling him in. LoL Three cheers for the Jones family charm! XD**

**Oh and the design for Danny's Nightwatcher disguise/costume is based upon the one that Raphael wore in the TMNT 2003 movie as I felt like paying homage to it because I liked it and the movie. X3 I'm a very open minded TMNT fan and I'm cool with that. LoL Also made a Spider-Man reference. XD Thanks to my friend who said it was a comical idea.**


	23. Never Say Xever

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Yay! Almost the New Year and I got this up! X3 Happy Holidays everyone! May they be turtle-tastic! LoL Don't forget to leave a nice review, and thanks to those of you who have. They are much appreciated. :3 **

**This is one of my favorite episodes so I wanted to take my time and get it done the way I wanted LoL. **

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><p><strong>"Never Say Xever"<strong>

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><p>It was dark out, all save for the usual dimly glowing lights that were on in most buildings, and the full moon casting its ethereal illumination down upon the city below. The almost ever present sound of sirens wailing, children crying, cars honking, and all manner of other commotion echoed disconcertingly throughout the air, as if it were apart of it it'd been there so long.<p>

The noises of the city could be heard faintly through the glass from where they were in an old clock building that served as the secret headquarters of the Foot clan. The Shredder stared out the window while Bradford was bowed down respectfully on one knee as he told his formidable master about Hamato Yoshi's students.

Shredder's reflection in the glass did nothing to bolster his embittered spirits, as no matter how Oroku Saki hid his face behind the mask of the Kuro Kabuto, he could not escape the angst-ridden memories that accompanied every glance his remaining good eye saw of the wounded parts of his face that were just barely exposed where the mask did not cover around his eyes…

"Hamato Yoshi's disciples are _turtles_? And yet they managed to _defeat you_?" The fear inspiring clan leader inquired darkly; his helmet covered head turned ever so slightly to address his top two henchmen; Xever and Bradford, just as Xever came strutting up the walkway to stand beside Chris.

"Not _just_ turtles. Man-sized turtles! Trained in ninjutsu. And I almost had them!" Chris tried to defend; trying to hold back as much of his outrage as he could at being scolded like an incompetent mongrel, for he knew his master didn't take such insubordination without there being consequences.

"'Til _you_ led us into their trap." Called the smooth, accusing voice of the suave master thief known as Xever, as he came to kneel down before their master, while Chris shot him a dirty look.

The brutish brunet was still pretty pissed off at the overly cocky ravenet for what he did to his cousin Danny. And if he had the ability and the chance to do so, he would tear the punks throat out with his bare teeth. Unfortunately, they were colleagues, and so that sort of thing wouldn't fly well with their master.

"If you'd let me take them down when I _wanted_-" Xever continued; shooting back a glower of his own, before he was interrupted by the brunet. "Then we'd never find Hamato!" The other henchman argued; the two of them acting like cutthroat children trying to place blame on the other to avoid punishment.

And just as easily, they flinched when their master spoke. "Silence." The armored warrior barely had to raise his voice to shut them up as he whipped around to face them; his cape moving as fluidly as he did, a bit of a feat in itself considering the man had on armor that clinked with each movement. But that was just for show, as they knew the menacing man could move as silently as a shadow.

"You were _such_ a promising student." Shredder remarked disappointedly when addressing Chris; who looked up at first in sadness for having let his master down. At least until that expression quickly turned to one of fear when those razor-sharp tekko-kagi of Shredder's popped out with just the _slightest _flex of the mans fingers, and he was made to stand as they came to point at his throat. "I expected _much more _from you."

"Sensei, give me another chance! I will not fail you again." Bradford pleaded as he leaned his head back when the blades pressed further toward him and he could feel the icy tip of one graze his neck through his beard.

Shredder considered for a moment, his eyes narrowing in that naturally sinister way the ninja master possessed, before he retracted those deadly metal claws as quickly as they'd appeared.

Chris felt as if he could've fallen over from relief of not yet being skewered; his upper body half bowed to show his sincerity and regret for having failed in his mission, just like a grateful dog when forgiven, as his master stared him down.

"No, you _won't_." The leader of the Foot clan told him in a dark and knowing way that set him back on edge. Shredder then turned to the ravenet. "Xever, you are in charge." The Brazilian delinquent grinned smugly at Bradford; knowing the other would not be pleased.

And Chris most certainly was not by the look on his face. "I won't take orders from this _gutter trash_." The previously docile minion all but snarled; feeling more than just outraged by the fact that his sensei had just given such an order.

"Is that so?" Shredder countered in that low, cool and evil baritone of his; those merciless eyes narrowing again and looking ever so dangerous, as the injured eye was half cast in shadow like the rest of the masked ninjas face, while those claws popped back out. To Xever it was like watching an uppity Chihuahua trying to face down a large, feral wolf; and Bradford was the spoiled, bratty Chihuahua.

"Unless you want me to, Master." The brunet meekly and very wisely added as if he had intended to say that all along when he was put back in his place; bowing a little further in apology. Chris couldn't help but think that he was glad Danny couldn't see him like this.

Xever was half tempted to snicker, but contained it as he didn't want to direct any of Master Shredder's almost endless supply of violent rage upon himself. "I've already put the word out on the street to watch for the turtles." Xever drawled in his velvety and upbeat manner while gesturing a thumb to himself.

Xever could feel the brunet brats glare upon him, but chose to ignore it, as he knew it would only infuriate the other more. "And when I find them, I'll _peel _them out of their shells and drop them at your feet!" The demented delinquent told his master; a sadistic sort of excitement coming over him at the thought.

Shredder knew that Xever's ruthlessness almost exceeded his own, and that was among the few reasons he'd chosen to make the master thief apart of his clan in the first place, as so far, the ravenet had proven his worth on more than one occasion.

Mildly pleased by that statement yet somewhat doubtful his minions would do much better the second time around, Shredder merely looked at Xever as his eyes narrowed just a fraction, before he silently turned and went to sit upon his throne-like chair in that brooding way to show that they were dismissed.

Xever shot Bradford another smarmy smirk before turning to leave, with the thought of perhaps stopping by the 24/7 later to get a bite to eat and see his favorite Bela when he'd succeeded in his mission.

It had been a while since he'd dropped by, and he felt a bit like celebrating the fact that Shredder had put him in charge instead of the Bradford brat; especially when he could better rub it in the brunets hairy face when he presented their boss with the turtles corpses.

All the while, Chris toothily glared daggers at the cocky thug, before begrudgingly turning to follow him to set out on their mission; wondering how their honorable master could have put such a slimy eel in charge of such an important task, when Chris had always served Shredder so faithfully.

Meanwhile, Jenny, April and their four turtle friends were out to get something to eat. As the turtles were busy ducking and dodging around to keep hidden in the shadows while they traveled down on the street, the redhead (in her usual street disguise) and the ginger conversed about where they should go to grab a bite to eat.

Jenny suggested Mr. Murakami's, as he was blind and probably wouldn't notice if four mutant turtles walked in. Although, knowing the man personally, Jen doubted there was much he didn't notice. But still, the chef was aces in Jen's eyes, and she was sure he'd be cool with it either way if they were with her.

The kindly old gentleman was much kinder and open minded than most people who were unaware that aliens and mutants walked among them that Jenny knew. Besides, if Akira was there like she was supposed to be, then Jen could help the turtles make a new human friend.

"Ugh… this is taking forever…" April complained impatiently; feeling rather hungry now that she knew where they were going. "Well they do stick out, so they have to be as stealthy as possible, and that kinda takes time." Jen defended nonchalantly.

"It's not like they can just put on hats and trench coats and blend in." The redhead added a tad humorously as the image popped into her crazy mind. But April was hungry and they'd been at this for quite a while now.

"You guys want to speed it up a little?" April hissed in an impatient whisper to the night air as she turned around; knowing the turtles could hear her. "Are you saying turtles are slow?" Donatello asked in a somewhat hurt voice as he popped out a ways behind April; startling the young woman, while Jen barely batted an eye.

"That's a hurtful stereotype!" Mikey squeaked; sounding even more offended as he made a kicked puppy face. The ginger turned and saw the orange banded turtle crouching beside Raph between the ticket booth that Donnie was also hiding behind.

Leo chuckled good-naturedly. "Trust us, April. We are better off keeping a low profile. We find people treat us better when they don't know we exist." He said as he looked around to keep an eye out, while Jenny smirked and gave April an "I told you so" look.

"Sorry. I'm just so excited we could get you out of the sewer for a change." April apologized; feeling like maybe she should've heeded Jen's earlier words. "What are you talking about? We go out all the time." Raph asked bewilderedly as he and his brothers looked confused.

"Yeah, but tonight you're going to do something _besides_ hitting people." The ginger elaborated brightly. Jen and Raph did a mutual "Awwww!" of disappointment before exchanging looks like April was off her rocker

"Don't worry. You're going to LOVE this noodle place Jen showed me!" The ginger assured brightly. Jenny gave a smiling nod. "Yep. It's got the best Japanese food in the city!" The redhead praised confidently; for in her opinion she spoke the truth.

"And you're _sure _we'll be welcome?" Donnie asked uncertainly as he drummed his fingers against the booth; not sure he liked the sound of any place the redhead might've gotten April all hyped up about. Though mostly because Jen had gotten her hyped up about it at all, when the brainy turtle didn't seem capable of doing so about anything he'd tried so far.

"Oh yeah! Mr. Murakami doesn't care what you look like." April told them confidently with a wave of her hand. "In fact, he won't even know what you look like. He's blind." She said like it was so obvious and that she had thought it up.

Jen fought the urge to roll her eyes, but figured if anyone could convince the brainy turtle to go, it would probably be the one Don was crushing on. "Awesome. OW!" Mikey said; having been smacked upside the back of the head by Raph for being insensitive, which if you think about it, was kind of ironic.

"I mean, for us, obviously." Mikey edified in an apologetic way with a sheepish grin as he sweat dropped, while Jen covered her mouth to stifle a snicker at seeing that Kaia was beginning to rub off on Raph. However, the jocular mood was soon broken when they came within earshot of the Asian restaurant.

The sound of shattering glass and people yelling and breaking things caught their attention, and they hurried up to the 24/7 noodle shop where it was coming from. From outside, the shadowy silhouettes of people and objects being thrown could be seen faintly through the red curtains.

"Oh no!" Jen exclaimed before the redhead hurried to see what the shell was going on. April noticed and quickly followed suit, with the turtles not far behind. "Who are those creeps?" Donnie asked as they stopped just outside of the shop when Jen opened the door.

"The Purple Dragons." Jenny hissed angrily as her eyes narrowed in recognition. The redhead knew enough about their less than reputable reputation from having been to the shop when Xever was shamelessly flirting with Akira.

When asking why Aki put up with the creep, the brunette explained that tolerating the demented delinquent kept her grandfather safe from Xever and his crew. After finding out they were thugs known as the Purple Dragons, Jen found she didn't like them.

However, despite secretly being Guardians in training with cool powers, that didn't mean they were allowed to just go around hurting or killing people without there being a good reason like Kaia could; no matter how tempted or frustrated they were. Otherwise they wouldn't be much of a secret.

Besides, even the orangette had limits to what she could and couldn't do. They all did. Which was why, for the most part, they had to try and deal with life the same way "normal" humans did. Well… "try" being the keyword anyway…

As Jen quickly surveyed the inside of the shop and saw the goons causing trouble, she wondered where Aki was. It was weird, normally Akira would've been there to pummel those morons as she was supposed to be working tonight. So where the heck was she?

Speaking of the crafty brunette, Akira had gone out back to take out the trash as she was cleaning up the back room some, when she came in through the backdoor, and heard a commotion coming from the front of the shop.

"Obaa-san! (Grandfather!)" Aki gasped, before hurrying back into the shop to the front to see what was happening. She sincerely hoped Xever and his goons hadn't decided to start up any trouble again.

Seeing only the usual three idiots, Aki was half right. They thought Akira was out, and so Fong and his crew figured they could just waltz up into the 27/7 shop and get some cash and revenge on her by messing up her grandfathers shop and roughing the old man up a little while they were at it.

"The who?" Mikey asked in bewilderment. "They think they own the streets around here." Jen explained; knowing the old man could handle himself, which he showed by bopping Fong with his cutting board, while she assessed the situation; wondering why these guys were attacking. Aki had told her that she'd taken care of them.

Apparently not as well as she should've, Jen thought when she saw Fong strike the elderly chef; knocking him back and then proceeding to try and hurt him further. She needed to get in there and stop them before Murakami-san got hurt or worse.

The boom happy boffin couldn't just stand there while the turtles twiddled their thumbs. And with that, the redhead threw caution to the winds and rushed in to help; leaping into the air and issuing a flying kick to the lanky creeps face while fiercely yelling "GOONGALA!"

"So much for not hitting people tonight." Leo remarked as he and his siblings exchanged looks of wanting to join in and beat those scumbags up. "Oh well!" Raph grinned before they hurried in to do just that; as usual liking the enthusiasm he and Jenny shared for baddie bashing.

"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled as he ran in first, while his brothers rolled in behind him; wanting to yell his battle cry too since Jenny made it look so fun. Everyone froze as the thugs saw them.

"Huh?" Fong asked as he got to his feet and rubbed his aching jaw to gawk at the turtles like his fellow thugs did. Jenny had thought the turtles would've stayed outside; her eyes wide with worry for them.

_'Those shellbrains! How could they just show themselves like that?! What kind of ninjas are they! At least __**I **__look human!' _The redette wondered in disbelief; knowing they probably just wanted to help, and hoping this wouldn't end up making things worse in the long run for all of them.

"Alright, let him go! You don't want any trouble." Leo ordered in his best intimidating tone. "We, on the other hand, do." Raphael added in his usual cocky way; eager to kick some bad guy butt.

"Whoa, those guys were serious! There really are giant turtles!" Fong exclaimed to his fellow scumbags in amazement. _'Ah shell... This can't be good.' _Jen thought as she poised herself for when the storm of battle finally broke out.

As they spoke, Akira stealthily snuck in; keeping low and hiding behind the counter so no one could see her, as she looked up at Jen; who was also standing there from having hopped over it after kicking Fong in the face, before the chatter box turtles came rolling in.

"What's going on?" Aki whispered in Japanese in a tone low enough so hopefully no one else would hear, as April was still safely outside. "Explain later, fight now. The turtles and ginger are with me." Jen informed as she tried not to move her mouth while she spoke so as not to draw attention; which would've been a lot harder had the thugs not been so preoccupied with the fact that they were talking to giant turtles who were talking back.

"The kappas (turtles)?!" Akira gasped, and Jen gave the slightest of nods. Well this was proving to be a complicated situation, Aki thought with a pensive frown. "Suggestions?" Aki knew the redhead knew the turtles better than probably anyone on the team, and usually turned to her best friend when she needed options, since Jen was her co-strategist of sorts.

"Hmm..." Jen looked thoughtful for a moment, before she got that impish smirk. "Wing it?" Was the redettes sly reply, and with a foxy smirk of her own, Aki nodded curtly. "Wing it."

"You've heard of us?" Mikey asked in awed surprise as he stood in his own stance. "Dudes, we're famous!" He said ecstatically to his bros. "That's bad!" Donnie hissed chidingly. "Oh. Right." Mikey slumped a bit in disappointment.

"Whatever you are, this neighborhood is ours. So why don't you slither back to the ocean you came from?" Fong told them with a snide dismissive wave of his hand. "Actually, we're freshwater turtles." Donnie corrected smartly, before he ended up distracting himself in his own elaboration.

His brothers gave him questioning looks and even Jen resisted the urge to face palm. Sure, she liked ranting intelligently as much as Donatello probably did, but this wasn't really the time or place for that.

"I suspect we're derived from the diamondback terrapin, but it's possible we're common box-" He rambled as Jen finally did face palm, before the arrogant nitwit Fong thankfully cut in. "Get 'em!" The creep yelled, and then, FINALLY, it was on!

And as soon as the fight broke out, that gave time for Akira to sneak over and check on her grandfather. "Obaa-san!" She whispered as she quickly checked him over. He groaned slightly in pain as he woke up. "A-Aki-chan?"

"Shhh... It's okay, Obaa-san. I'm here now." Aki soothed as she gave him a pat on the shoulder, and the poor man relaxed some in relief his grandchild was okay. That was when the ginger popped in and the two stared at each other for a moment; April's eyes wide as Akira just looked mildly surprised and as cool as ever.

"A-Akira-san!" April stammered; not having known Aki long or well enough to call her -chan like Jenny. "April-san. What are you doing here?" Aki asked; pretending like she didn't know what was going on.

"I... uh..." The ginger was at a loss for words. "Are you with the kappas?" April made a face to show she had no idea what the other meant. The brunette sighed and elaborated. "The turtles." Feeling like an idiot, April smacked her own forehead. "Oh, duh! Right. Um, yeah. I guess you could say that. Why?"

"Good. Then please get my grandfather to safety. There's something I must do." Akira more ordered than asked, but the baffled ginger didn't think it wise to argue, as her fellow teen had a strange look in those smoldering blue-green eyes of hers.

"O-okay... Sure." April barely managed to say, before Akira grabbed a clean sauce pan and hurtled over the counter and joined Jenny in the fray; who couldn't help but end up having a bit of fun as she fought alongside Raphael.

April peeked up to see what was going on and saw Mikey in trouble, so she picked up a pan lid and threw it at the thug behind Mikey; as the turtle had been distracted by attempting to try some tasty looking ramen. "Huh?" Mikey looked over, saw the guy and then gave the ginger a thumbs up. "Thanks April!"

"You're welcome!" April called back with a wave, before she went about trying to get Mr. Murakami to a safer spot. Jenny and Raph were entertaining themselves by taking turns knocking the crud out of Sid like he was a ping pong ball, while Akira went after Fong like a creep seeking missile.

However, Leo was currently engaged in a fight with him, and so when a blur of white, blue and brunette passed his face, both males were startled before Fong was nearly knocked over by the blow he received to the stomach with the sauce pan that Akira held firmly and lethally in her grasp.

Leo blinked, but there was no time to really take in anything about the newcomer as the fight continued, and he had to duck a random bowl of ramen that went flying across the room and nearly hit April and Mr. Murakami.

The blue banded turtle and the brunette teamed up against the ringleader of the scum bags, and put a good smack down on him; fighting together surprisingly well, as Leonardo couldn't help but notice with an odd rush of delight.

Then Leo moved in and cornered Fong; taunting him with a gesture for the other to come at him. Fong growled and grabbed a butcher knife and threw it at Leo, who deflected it easily and then knocked Fong back so hard that he went rolling across the counter and into the wall.

The turtle moved in and grabbed the creep; pulling his fist back to deal the final blow, when he heard "Iie! (No!)" being called out to him from somewhere to his right, and turned to see it was the brunette.

In the instant that the blue banded turtle laid eyes upon her, Leo fell into a slowmo doki doki moment that he nearly lost himself in when his azure eyes met those enthralling blue-green orbs.

But the pleading look on her face as she repeated "Iie, Kappa-san. (No, Mr. Turtle.)" in a gentler and almost imploring tone, made him snap out of it and look back at the thug. Leo saw how _frightened _the human creep was and felt... pity for him.

It was then that Leo couldn't help but feel glad that she had stopped him, and lowered his fist as he stepped back and let go of the hold he had on the jerk. In truth, Akira had been in a mood to slaughter Fong where he stood, but that was not what her obaa-san would've wanted.

And knowing he would've been disappointed in her or even just the slightest bit unhappy at her actions made Akira reel in her emotions when she'd gone to grab the sauce pan earlier, instead of one of the sharp knives that were glinting enticingly beside it, and go deal with the situation more appropriately by simply giving the numbskull a sound thrashing.

Thankfully for Xever and his crew, Danny hadn't been very keen to give his team all the details about the night he'd gotten badly wounded, as he didn't want them to try and avenge him and get hurt or anything.

And so Akira didn't know that Xever had been the one to hurt Danny. Nor did the turtles feel it prudent to really say much about their dealings with the Foot clan around April; wanting to keep her and the redette safe from it as much as possible.

They didn't even tell Jenny about it; as Donnie cleverly (or rather sneakily) stated that since they didn't get her involved in the missions that involved the Foot anyway, that the redhead didn't need to know and worry about them since Jen had a family that could get hurt because of it.

April couldn't help agreeing since at least the ginger didn't think she had much else to lose now that both her own parents were no longer with her in some form or another, and so she kept what she knew to herself.

That was when the brunette saw how the blue banded turtle was about to do something he would undoubtedly regret. From what Jenny had told her, the kappas were ninjas with gentle souls, and Aki could respect that.

And so upon seeing Leonardo about to let his anger get the best of him, she beseeched him to refrain, and was glad he listened. If he hadn't, Akira would've had to knock him out with the pan.

Puzzled and still rather freaked out, Fong gasped in confusion as the turtle stared him down in a rather menacing way, or at least as menacing as Leo could possibly look under the current circumstances.

"Get out of here!" The blue banded ninja growled, but instead of running away in terror as Leo had hoped, since it would've looked cooler in front of the brunette the turtle thought, Fong just pushed him aside and waltzed on out of the shop.

But after a warning look from Akira; who held up the pan threateningly, Fong's eyes widened and he hastened his pace to get himself and his cronies out of there. "Come on. Let's go!" He said as he helped his buddies to their feet.

"This ain't over, greeny!" Fong yelled at the turtles before running out like a wussy with his arms flailing for some stupid reason. The reason being because he saw Akira take a step forward, for the creep knew that she wasn't one to be trifled with.

"Greeny? Really? I wonder how many brain cells he put to work on that!" Donatello huffed indignantly. Raph rolled his eyes from where he stood leaning against the counter, as Jenny had gone to check on April and Mr. Murakami with Akira.

"You just let him go? What the heck was that?!" The red banded ninja shouted at his older brother; wondering what the heck had possessed Leo to do such a thing. He knew his bro was a total goody-two shoes, but seriously?!

"They weren't exactly a threat. They'd had enough." Leo told him as his eyes flickered very briefly to the beautiful brunette just outside the door of the shop; who was checking her grandfather over again and asking if he was okay.

"Dude! They were beating up a blind guy! There's no "enough"! Now they'll think we're wimps and we don't have the guts to finish the job." Raphael shot back; both outraged and baffled as to why he had to end up with such a do-gooder of a sibling. It was just so freakin' aggravating!

Leonardo looked down and to the side as he frowned and wondered if maybe Raph was right. But then, he was taken by surprise again when he heard the soft sound of wooden sandals approach him, and looked up from them and along a svelte form to see the soft smile of the chocolate haired angel from earlier.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Kappa-san. (Thank you very much, Mr. Turtle)." Akira thanked with a cute bow; her curtain of dark hair falling around her face as she bowed and then rose up.

Akira made sure to keep her voice quiet enough in hopes that her grandfather wouldn't hear from where he was outside. Leo felt rather dumbstruck and tongue tied. "I, uh..." He started, but then quickly tried to compose himself to try and keep up his cool "hero face" so as not to seem lame.

"Doo itashimashite. (You're welcome.)" He replied courteously with a bow of his own; his face dusting pink at the way her smile warmed and those sparkling blue-green eyes became crescents. "Um… You were… well, you fought pretty bravely." Leo said as he rubbed his upper arm shyly.

"As did you. And do not worry, I shall not say a word about you being kappas to my grandfather." Akira replied in kind; her cool and composed demeanor helping the turtle to relax a little, as he tried to think of what else to say, while he beamed at her in appreciation for her having called him brave.

That and the fact that the brunette wasn't freaking out one bit that he was a mutant ninja turtle. It all helped make him feel appreciated and kinda… _heroic_. Not something he got to feel as often as he liked.

"Wow! That was great, you guys!" April cheered as she and Mr. Murakami came back in with Jen; ruining the moment Leonardo felt he was having with the lovely young woman, and making him frown slightly as Akira left to go to her grandfathers side.

"Obaa-san..." She whispered in concern, but her grandfather waved her off with a reassuring smile. "I'm fine." He repeated for the umpteenth time; happy his grandchild fussed over him so much, but feeling it was not necessary.

"Thanks, April. Did you see when I caught that one guy and flipped him onto the counter? Did it look cool?" Donnie gushed breathily before chuckling. "I bet it looked cool."

Jen went to stand beside Raph again, and they shared a look and then rolled their eyes; wondering why Donnie had to act so goofy over the ginger like that. Ah well, at least they'd been able to make fun out of a bad situation during the fight. Jen was just happy Aki and Murakami-san were okay.

"The coolest." April said in hopes that he'd let up about it or else she might end up hearing him ask repeatedly all the way home. Donnie's hopeful grin fell. "You didn't see it, did you?"

"No, I did not." The ginger confessed; having been too busy trying to help Mr. Murakami. "My friends, I'm indebted to you. Please, allow me to make you a meal. Free of charge." Mr. Murakami offered kindly; having recovered for the most part from having been roughed up.

Murakami knew he could've called to Akira at any time, but he hated feeling like he was being a burden to his dear grandchild. It was bad enough the girl worried over him as much as she already did, and chose to spend her free time watching over him when she should've been enjoying her life like any teenager.

"I think we can allow that." Raphael grinned; having had a decent fight and ready to have a good meal. "What is your favorite dish?" Akira asked with her hands pressed adorably together; drawing the attention of the turtles, as the other three who had yet to actually notice her.

They blinked, while their oldest brother tried very hard not to stare. But upon the question, their eyes lit up like kids on Christmas who just stolen Santa's magical sack of toys, as they all shouted with joyous hunger "PIZZA!"

Jenny let slip a small snort of laughter, while April face palmed, and Akira and her grandfather smiled in amusement. They were always happy to have customers who seemed as enthusiastic about eating as they were about cooking.

Akira held her hand up politely to her petite mouth as she giggled, and Leo felt his stomach go all fluttery at the sound of it. "My, quite the reaction. Such is most welcome here." The turtles all turned a bit pink as they realized how overeager they sounded and sweat dropped.

Jenny kindly introduced them to Akira and her obaa-san as her bestie replied in kind. "I am Akira Murakami, and this is my grandfather Murakami-san. It is a pleasure to have you. Please, allow me to show you to your seats, gentlemen." The foxy secret ninja offered elegantly.

And the next thing any of them knew, Akira was politely showing them to their seats at the counter like a good server, while her grandfather got the flames of his stove roaring and they cooking began.

The two Murakami's seemed more like they were dancing than cooking, as they worked together to make the heavenly creation known as pizzagyoza! Leo couldn't take his eyes off of the graceful brunette as he rested his chin on his hands.

Jenny noticed the dreamy look; sitting between him and Raph, and gently elbowed Leo's arm to get his attention. "You've got a hungry look in your eye, and I don't think it's got anything to do with food." The redhead teased knowingly as she leaned over to talk to him more privately.

Leo blushed madly. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about." He lied as he tried to keep a straight face, but those blue eyes of his wandered back to Akira as she chopped up some vegetables; showing such skill and precision with a blade that the blue banded ninja couldn't help but be impressed.

"Riiiight." Jenny grinned, but chose to remain silent on the subject for now, as she knew Leo was still troubled about having to let those Purple Dragon jerks go. Might as well let Leonardo enjoy whatever part of their outing that he could, seeing as he tried so hard to be the mature and responsible one all the time.

Akira felt the eyes of the blue banded kappa on her while she worked. She knew it might be odd, and it might have something to do with Aki's long time love of aquatic creatures, but she couldn't help finding that Leonardo-san looked rather cute, and would look up every once in a while to smile at him as she moved about the kitchen; moving in synch with Murakami as they prepared the meal.

Leonardo-san didn't leer at her like Xever-san did. The kappas gaze was gentle and quite shy, as that green skin would flush lightly when she flashed him a smile; feeling like he'd been caught staring and hoping Akira wouldn't think he was creepy or anything.

"Oh, Murakami-san, that was awesome!" Donnie praised; clearly impressed as were the rest of his brothers. "You guys are like ninjas, but for food!" Mikey agreed; making Akira giggle again as she served up each of their gyoza.

"Pizzagyoza!" Mr. Murakami proclaimed the name of this new dish happily while his grandchild served it. "Pizzagyoza?" April asked skeptically; sounding and looking very disgusted and uncertain about it.

Jenny watched the turtles to see how they would react, as Akira stood there with her grandfather waiting to see (or hear in Murakami's case) what they thought of it. The turtles regarded it curiously; a few even poking at it, before they each picked up one of the dumplings and all stuffed it in their mouths at the same time.

They chewed it for a moment, before their eyes went all anime and comically turned big and white before they popped off due to the sheer amount of how overwhelming delicious they found the concoction to be.

All four turtles expressed how much they loved it, and Leo was happy to see the pleased look on Akira's face; a pink tinge gracing her face. "It's like I got a one-way ticket to flavorville!" Donnie said breathily. "This is really good too, you know." April chided as she held up her bowl of ramen.

"And so is this." Jenny defended as she took another bite of her own pizzagyoza; having been open minded enough to try it and being very glad she had. And for once, all the turtles seemed to back up Jenny as they gave April a flat look before they went back to making yummy "Mmm!" sounds as they ate their dumplings too.

"So Jenny. I've been meaning to ask." Donnie began as he leaned forward to see the redhead better; a slightly suspicious look on his face. "How come you never told us you could speak Japanese?"

Jenny regarded him with a look of genuine surprise and then shrugged. "You never asked." Okay, well Donnie felt kinda like a bonehead on that one, so he leaned back as he slumped down in his seat sheepishly.

"My best friend Aki-chan was the one who taught me actually. I learned from her and her family as we grew up together." The redhead explained conversationally; taking a bite of her dumpling and humming happily.

She supposed Donatello had every right to be wary of her, what with her secretly being a Guardian in training and all. "Wow, really? That must've been pretty cool?!" April inquired with great interest; having gotten a liking for Asian culture since having met Jenny and the turtles.

"Yeah, it was actually." Jen chuckled lightly. "Guess that explains why you've got manners like Mr. Bleeding Heart over there." Raph jabbed his chopsticks at Leo, who shot him a glare. Jenny gave a nod.

"Duuude! I bet you got to eat all KINDS of good food!" Mikey looked all dreamy as he drooled a little and made an "Ahhhh" noise, as images of all sorts of pizza related combinations flashed in his mind, before he scooped up another gyoza to munch on it cheerfully.

"Yep! Murakami-san is definitely a master when it comes to delicious goodies!" Jen praised with a sweet smile that made Donnie scowl at how Jen had once again gained everyone's interest.

_'Stupid Jenny, and her dumb face looking all nice while she runs that idiotic, pouty mouth, and talks about moronically cool things! Wait... whuh?!' _Donatello felt his face heat up as he realized the words that somehow slipped into his mental rant, and he suddenly was very thankful that he was still slumped behind Mikey so Jenny couldn't see him.

After his second dumpling, Leo suddenly realized he finally had something with which to attract the attention of a certain brunette. "Uh, A-Akira-san, do the Purple Dragons come around a lot?" He shyly asked with genuine concern that made Akira pause in chopping some more ingredients to look at the blue banded turtle.

Akira sighed softly and somewhat agitatedly. "Yes. They demand protection money, but we refuse to pay. I thought I had dissuaded them from hassling my grandfather so, but now that this has happened... They will surely return." Akira told Leo as she bowed her head and looked away as if she blamed herself for it all.

Which, in a way, the brunette did. Akira knew that the goons would've pulled something sooner or later, and that she wouldn't have always been around to protect her obaa-san, but it still made her feel lousy.

The eldest turtle wanted to say something to cheer her up, but unfortunately Raph intervened in the conversation. "Well, they wouldn't if _somebody _hadn't wimped out." The angry red banded turtle stated. Jen elbowed Raph and he scowled at the chastising look the redette gave him.

It was Leonardo's turn to look ashamed, and Aki noticed this and found it noteworthy. Mikey used Leo's moment of sulking to steal his last three gyoza. Feeling bad for him, and not just for the kappa having lost his food, Akira went over and set four more on his plate; since she and her grandfather were making the turtles extra to take home.

Leonardo stopped glaring at Mikey when he saw this and just gawked at her in surprised, feeling touched somehow; and definitely seeing that it was purposefully done to cheer him up when she offered him a comforting smile and said "Do not fret, Leonardo-san. Sometimes… even doing the right thing may not feel right at the time. But that does not mean it is not so."

The blue eyed turtle felt his face heat up at the sweet way she said his name, and he couldn't help returning that soothing smile with one of his own. Leo gave a nod and murmured a shy thanks before she replied in kind with a slight bow to show he was welcome, and then went back to helping her grandfather cook.

When they were done, the four turtles returned back to the lair. Leo was a bit sad to go, but quite liked the cute way that Akira bid them goodbye as she did with customers, and couldn't help feeling rather energetic when they returned home.

Leonardo tried to take out some of that energy, as well as the annoyance he felt at himself for how conflicted he felt about the Purple Dragon situation by taking it out on the training dummy they had hanging up.

"Whoa, whoa, Leo!" Raph said tauntingly as he popped out from behind the training dummy. "Well, I think he's had enough. You better let him go." Leo frowned; Raph had been hassling him ever since they'd left and he'd had enough.

"I get it. You're making fun of me for not mercilessly pummeling a helpless man." Leonard shot back at his irksome brother. "Yes, I am. You showed weakness. Those guys only understand one language." The shorter turtle reprimanded as he poked Leo's chest. "Chinese?" Michelangelo offered hopefully; looking up from the new comic that Danny had let him borrow the other day.

Raph jumped over to Mikey ninja style. "No. Fists!" He told him as he made a fist and posed like he was about to punch the youngest turtle; making Mikey flinch for a second before looking curious. "What about feet?" Mikey asked as he held up his foot and wiggled his toes.

The red banded turtle sighed. "They understand feet." He relented. "That would make them bilingual." Donnie corrected; making Raph grab his head in his hands and growl. "Argh! They point is we can't go soft on them!" Raphael tried to edify; wondering what was so hard to understand about that.

"To show mercy is not soft." Master Splinter cut in firmly; causing his sons to turn and look at him, but not without scaring the shell off of them with the way he would just pop up like that.

"It is a sign of _true_ strength." Leo's eyes widened at that as he recalled how Akira looked when she beseeched him to stop. He could see that she was clearly VERY angry at the men who came to hurt her grandfather and terrorize them, and yet despite that, the brunette chose to ask him to stop instead of just letting him hurt the thug...

Huh... So did that make her strong in that regard? Leo couldn't help but wonder, as he did have fun kicking butt with her; though it was a brief fight. "But, Sensei, they're criminals. This is war!" Raphael reasoned; feeling annoyed and as if no one understood him or the point he was making.

"A daimyo of the 16th century once said, 'in times of peace, never forget the possibility of war. In times of war, never forget _compassion_.'" Splinter said; hoping it would ease the anger of his ill-tempered son and prevent him from doing something he might regret.

"I'm guessing that guy lost a lot of wars." Raph replied derisively; clearly not getting the message. Disliking his sons insolent tone, Splinter's eyes narrowed and Raphael gasped as he suddenly found his sensei's cane in his face, seeing that he could easily have been attacked had Splinter chosen to do so.

"You see? _Mercy_." Splinter explained in his strangely sagely way with a slight smile, before he whipped back his cane with a whoosh and smacked Raphael on the arm with it. "OW!" The cranky turtle cried as he clutched at his sore arm.

"Okay, look. Compassion is great. But the Purple Dragons are not going to leave Murakami and his granddaughter alone." Raphael reasoned in a much calmer and gentler tone; and Splinter saw that his son had not just been trying to start a fight as he usually was doing, but was actually concerned for the old man and young girl.

The reasons for that being because Jen was Raph's best bud, and he remembered how Jenny had told them earlier that Akira was the best friend who had taught her Japanese, and also because Aki's grandfather made the best and ONLY pizzagyoza in the city; and he wasn't about to let some gutter scum get between him and good food. Though, he supposed he was a tad jealous Jen had a best friend already.

"So, we'll track down the Dragons and make sure they got the message." Leonardo chimed in; disliking his leadership skills being questioned, and also still pretty peeved about what they did to Murakami and Akira.

"And if they didn't, we'll send them one. Special delivery!" He finished with a smack to his fist to emphasis his point. "Was that meant to sound tough or stupid?" Raph asked dryly with a raised eyebrow.

"How are we gonna track someone down when we can't talk to anybody?" Donnie asked; making a good point that had them all looking at one another for an idea. "Ooo! What about April?!" Donnie suggested brightly; thinking it would be just another chance to hang out with her.

They all looked at him. "Dude! Are you crazy? Jenny would be WAY better. We should ask her instead." Raph said in both defense of his redheaded friend and out of concern for April.

"Pfft! Yeah right! Anything Jenny can do, April can do better!" The brainy brother protested as he gave a huff and crossed his arms over his chest. "And what if she runs into trouble, huh Genius? She's just _barely_ started her training with Master Splinter. She could get hurt! At least we know Jenny can handle herself." The quick tempered turtle argued with surprising logic.

Donnie blinked; he hadn't thought of it like that... Maybe... they _should_ call Jenny… "I, uh, guess I didn't think of that..." He confessed as he rubbed the back of his head. So they called up Jenny and the next day she and April showed up at the lair; as they still had Jen being led blindfolded.

After hearing them out, Jenny pressed a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Hmmm... actually, as much as I appreciate your vouching for me Red, I gotta go with Donnie boy on this." Jen stated nonchalantly as all of the turtles and April gasped "WHAT?!"; being rather taken aback by her response.

"Well yeah, I mean, since April and I got wrapped up in this crazy Kraang business, I've been giving her tips on how to be more covert and stuff to help gather intel in case I can't help." Jenny said with a shrug.

After all, Jen DID have a life outside of the turtles. Something her ginger haired and green skinned friends seemed to forget. Donnie rolled his eyes. "Oh please! What would you possibly know about being _covert_?!" He asked sarcastically.

"Sorry to have to be the one to point this out to you, _Professor Know-It-All_, but unlike you and your brothers, I've spent the most time living topside. And my neighborhood isn't exactly what you'd call _friendly_. Believe me when I say that I've picked up more than my fair share of _life lessons _requiredto survive the streets of New York." Jenny edified coolly with her hands sassily on her hips.

The redhead wasn't lying in the least, as she and Akira had dealt with a lot of crap growing up where they did LONG before they ever became Guardians in training. It was one of the many reasons they were grateful for the ninja skills they'd been taught by their sensei.

"Hah! Like you're skills are any better than mine? I'm a _ninja_! There's no way you could ever-" Donatello began derisively; finding it rather amusing and annoying how the redette thought her "street smarts" were any better than his "ninja smarts", when he was a genius ninja and all that.

"I was _hoping_ you'd ask me that, oh _dearest_ Gap Tooth!" Jenny teased smugly; cutting into the brainy turtles insulting, while enjoying seeing how Donnie's face got all pink with the way the almost endearing insult ruffled him so, before going over to him with a hand behind her back.

And then pulling it to the front to hand Donatello his Tphone. The art of how to steal things, like pickpocketing, was among the most basic of things one had to learn to be a good ninja. Even the turtles knew that.

Thankfully though, Akira had helped Jen develop the skill when she had trouble figuring out how to do it without attracting attention. Most would've probably figured it had been Kaia who helped her, but the brunette had foxy skills when it came to matters of such subtlety.

"_Love _the pic you use for when April calls by the way." The redhead smirked slyly when she leaned down to quip quietly into his ear; making the terrapin shiver a little. It was downright shameful how much fun the boffin had teasing the geeky turtle, but Jen didn't care.

"H-how did you... WHEN did you?!" Donnie stammered in disbelief as he took the device Jen handed him. "When I passed you on the way in. I like messing with your ringtones and settings." The redette shrugged airily.

"THAT WAS YOU!?" Donatello shrieked like a girl as he stood up with his fists at his side in an outrage. "For _weeks _I thought my phone was malfunctioning! Do you have ANY idea how many times I've had to take it apart to try and see what was wrong with it?!"

"Hmm..." Jen mused in mock thought with her finger to her lips again as she made a slight show of pretending to look thoughtful before smirking coolly at him. "Quite a lot I hope." The redhead played.

Donatello gawked and then grit his teeth as he growled; his whole face turning red from anger and frustration at the infuriating scarlet haired menace before him. The fact that this only seemed to amuse her ticked off Donnie all the more.

Raphael face palmed, while Leo and April shook their heads, and Mikey frowned and wished they could just get along. "Would you two stop it already?!" April griped; having had enough of their fighting for the moment.

The two science enthusiasts looked a bit taken aback. "Sorry April." Jen said and ran her fingers through the top part of her hair. "Yeah, sorry." Donnie apologized while rubbing the back of his head.

"I guess it doesn't much matter what I say. The choice is really up to you, April. What do you think?" The boffin asked; thinking she should have a say in it too. Donnie wished he'd thought to ask, and gave a huff as he crossed his arms like a pouting child while he glared at Jenny.

"O-oh, well... I dunno. I mean... Do you think I could pull it off?" The ginger didn't have the best self-confidence, but Jenny had been trying to help her with that practically since they'd met.

"Of course you can! And hey, if you want, I'll come along and be your backup, 'kay?" The secret Guardian in training offered supportively; making the brainy turtle scowl even more.

April brightened at that and felt reassured; her cheeks tinting pink as she nodded. "Okay! I-I think I'll feel a little better if you're there." Donnie's jaw dropped and he inwardly kicked himself. Do _what _now?! Why didn't April ever say nice things like that to him when he offered to be there for her?! It just... it wasn't fair!

And as Donatello was mentally kicking himself while engaged in another "I hate Jenny and am so much better than her" rant in his head, that ended up backfiring like it tended to do, they all agreed that they'd take on the mission as a group and started going over the plan now that they felt assured of April's safety.

With that done, they were ready to go; with all except for Donnie being pretty psyched to be doing some good. Not that he didn't want to do good, he'd just rather they did it without Jenny.

Later on, with the redhead in her usual disguise but with her mask removed, Jen stood right beside her, and had just finished coaching April on how to go about asking for info like they'd practiced many times. As well as before leaving the lair; but April was still pretty nervous.

"We're looking for the Purple Dragons." The ginger said while leaning towards the Tidal Wave Fresh Fish market man after they approached him. "I don't know what you're talking about." The man lied; not wanting any trouble.

_'Gotta press him for information like Jen taught me.' _April thought; remembering Jen's advice. "Don't worry, we can protect you. We're undercover cops." Jenny could've face palmed. _'Seriously girly?' _She thought, but chose to let the girl do her thing.

"You look like you're barely eighteen, and your friend doesn't look much older." The man said while eying April suspiciously. "I'm her partner." The redhead told the fish monger in a stern and businesslike tone like an officer does when someone showed them disrespect, as she stepped in when seeing the ginger looked stuck.

"And the reason we look so young is because we're good at this." April inwardly sighed; glad the other was there to help out. "Yeah." April said as she leaned coolly against the fish display, but then panicked a little when she knocked almost all of them on the ground.

The redhead sighed softly and shook her head a little and muttered "Rookies" to try and keep up the façade the ginger picked for them. April blushed and sweat dropped. "Let me see your badge." The man said suspiciously to the ginger, since she seemed to be the weak link of the two.

"Are you crazy? We can't carry badges." Jenny defended like it was all so obvious and the man was the one at fault; which made the man feel taken aback and somewhat stupid. Especially when April took the gist and added "Exactly! That would blow our cover." in a miffed tone similar to Jen's.

"I suppose that makes sense." The man scratched his head. And after the guy told them what he knew, and they were around the corner out of sight, Jen gave April a hi-five as Jen told her how good of a job she did. This made the ginger all tickled and proud of herself, which the redette thought was nice to see for a change.

Jen was just glad the girl was learning. April could be just as hardheaded as Jen's brother sometimes, so it could prove a bit taxing, but eventually Jenny figured out a way to get the lesson through. And with the information gained, the two humans headed off while the four turtles went to investigate the Tattoo Company in Chinatown.

"April and Jen said this was the place." Leo stated as the four of them stood poised coolly up on a rooftop. "Cool. Can we get tattoos?! I wanna get one of my face _on_ my face." Mikey asked excitedly.

"It'll be like I'm wearing a mask and the mask is _me_!" The youngest turtle made it sound like it was some kind of Zen thing or something, but they all thought it was stupid. "I just blew your minds, right?" He asked after having gasped and struck a pose.

"You know they use needles for that." Donnie felt the need to say, before the sound of a door opening caught their attention. "Can it, dorks! There he is!" Raph whispered as they watched Fong leaving the tattoo parlor, before taking off in pursuit via rooftop.

He led them to a fortune cookie factory, ironically called the Fortune Cookie Factory, that looked like it hadn't been making any cookies for a while at least. But unbeknownst to the turtles, there was a lot more than three thugs and a ton of stale treats inside...

Xever and Bradford had arrived to collect what the three numbskulls knew, as Fong had called the ravenet telling him that they had spotted the turtles. Though the young thug was VERY hesitant as to explain the where and the how of all that, since Fong knew their boss took a bit of a _liking_ to the noodle shop. Or at least to the psychotic server who worked there.

"We saw that gang of turtles you were lookin' for. And we'll tell you where, for a _price_." Fong tried to negotiate; hoping to get at least something good out of it since he figured he and his crew might end up with a severe beating for telling Xever just _where_ they could find them.

But then the turtles burst through the window all awesomely and ruined any plans of that. "Freeze, dirtbags!" Leo yelled heroically. But Xever and Bradford grinned wickedly at the sight of their prey having come to them.

"Uh oh..." Leo muttered at realizing the Shredder's henchmen were there. "I think we can find them ourselves." The ravenet quipped darkly; quite eager to make good on his promise to the Shredder of serving the turtles up in their own shells.

"Oh, man. This is awkward. It's Chris Bradford, my _ex-friend_! And that other guy." Michelangelo grimaced; not at all pleased to see the ex-friend who had betrayed both him and Mikey's sunny friend Danny, nor the creep who'd put his human in the hospital.

"The name is Xever." The crazy Brazilian introduced smugly. "So you don't forget, I'll write it on your shells, with _these_!" Xever emphasized the last word by skillfully flipping out his butterfly knives with a flourish and a grin just as dangerous.

As a fight broke out between them, Leo ended up face to face with Fong; whom he immediately held at sword point. "You're making me sorry I let you go." The turtle told him with a disappointed glare.

But with an agility that surprised even Leo, Xever came up like a flash behind the turtle and attacked him; sending Leonardo flying down a set of stairs as he flipped around to regain his footing, only to end up crashing with a grunt of pain through a large wooden crate.

Blue eyes went wide as Xever relentlessly pursued him, and Leo just barely managed to roll to the side and dodge, as the wildly grinning Brazilian came down upon where he had previously been.

Getting to his feet with both swords drawn, Leo went to attack, but Xever dexterously balanced himself on one hand while he used those long legs of his to repeatedly kick the turtle upside his head; smirking all the while as his favorite part of the job was cracking skulls.

However, Raphael saved his brother by tackling Xever; only to be repelled in mid-air after knocking the crooked criminal away, and catching himself on the wall. The sai wielding ninja bounced off the wall and onto the conveyer belt to face off against Xever, as Leo took up stance behind the villain; who seemed rather amused by the challenge the turtles foolishly thought they posed.

Donnie and Mikey were in trouble too however, but at least they were aware of it, as Chris Bradford was just as enthusiastically kicking their shells. And then, just when the turtles thought things couldn't get any worse, Foot ninjas began bursting through the freakin' walls!

"Turtles, fall back!" Leo ordered as their enemies closed in on them. "We're giving up? _Again_?! You kidding me?!" Raph asked incredulously as he and his brothers were backing up. This was getting a bit ridiculous, he thought.

"Yes, it's all part of my hilarious 'let's all live' routine." Leo shot back as they dodged the throwing stars that whizzed passed their heads, before they made a break to retreat, and were barely able to escape. Xever was hot on their tail, until they jumped out of the broken window they came in through.

"Hey! Stay and fight you cold-blooded cowards!" The ravenet bellowed heatedly; very miffed that his fun had been cut short by what he thought were such pathetic tactics on the turtles part.

The turtles returned home and sulked around the living room area of their home in silence. "Man, could that fight have been any more embarrassing?" Came Raph's depressed question; breaking the silence as he stood up to take out some aggravation on the training dummy.

Geez, he'd take getting beaten up by Kaia again over this! At least she could somehow make Raph feel good even if he lost, and it wasn't anywhere near as embarrassing...

"Sure. We could have been hit in the face with pies." Mikey offered to try and help lighten the mood. He wished he could've gone to see Danny as he gloomily flipped idly through his sunny humans comic book.

But the orange banded ninja figured his brothers would've probably asked where he was going, plus they kinda needed him right now since they'd probably try to make another plan to fight again or whatever. Ugh... the things he did for his bros.

Raphael growled at the stupid comment. "It's called fighting smart, Raph. The Purple Dragons have Bradford and Xever on their side now. Last time, we _barely_ beat those guys!" Leo tried to get his brother to understand, but for a turtle, Raph could be downright pigheaded.

"Yeah, because they're willing to fight to the finish! The only way to beat them is to be just as ruthless as they are." Raph countered in his usual 'I can whoop anybody' attitude.

If Jen or Kaia were with him, Raphael couldn't help thinking they'd probably back him up on this. Though the turtle didn't know it, Malakaia probably would've since she disliked leaving people alive who wanted to kill her unless she thought she had a good reason. And Jenny might've depending on the situation.

But the sound of their sensei's firm and reprimanding voice intervened; making them start slightly as it always freaked them out when Splinter just appeared up like that. "Raphael, this Xever can cross lines that you won't. This may make him dangerous, but it does _not_ make him strong."

"But Xever wins fights. Isn't that what matters? And he never shows anyone mercy." Raph tried to reason; wondering why he almost always seemed to be wrong. But instead of making a point to Splinter, it inspired an idea in Leo's head that the blue banded turtle began muddling over as the evening went on.

Back at the Fortune Cookie Factory, Xever was taking out his frustrations on Fong and his crew for having tried to use the information of the turtles to negotiate with him; as if Fong was some big shot instead of just a nitwit their Brazilian boss let breath. "Please, please! I helped you find the turtles, didn't I?"

"Idiota! (Idiot!) You led them TO our hideout!" Xever sneered fumingly, as he lifted up the punk by the front of his shirt, before shoving the morons head through some wooden cat character that was used to mix up the cookie batter.

"So much for your _street connections_." Bradford taunted dryly; making the ravenet turn around to scowl at the arrogant rich boy; who was leaning smugly against the conveyer belt with his arms cross over his muscular chest. "You really think these common hoodlums can tell us anything useful?" Chris asked doubtfully.

"They'd _better_." Xever hissed darkly; reaching over and yanking the idiot out of the wooden cat. "Where'd you see those turtles?!" Their boss demanded in his naturally scary way. It terrified the truth out of Fong despite the punks reservations about letting loose that possibly dooming bit of information.

"Th-the East Village. That old man's noodle shop! M-Murakami's! We were roughin' him up and they jumped in to protect him." He blurted in the hopes that he might not get skinned alive or worse.

Xever's hold on the idiots shirt loosened just a touch in surprise; shocked at the fact that those disgusting green skinned freaks had been anywhere near his foxy little Bela. What if they hard hurt or frightened her?!

But knowing Akira he doubted the frightened part a bit. Xever still hoped she hadn't been there when the turtles were though. The leader of the Purple Dragons' grip tightened and he grit his teeth at the thought of them so much as _touching_ Akira with their filthy mutant hands.

He would have to sort out the details as to why the three fools were there in the first place, as well as a few other things, but that would have to wait; as he couldn't show any concern for the crafty brunette now.

Xever didn't need Bradford thinking he had a weakness to exploit and for Akira to end up getting hurt because of it. So for now, the smooth criminal would refrain from mentioning her and pretending as if nothing was wrong.

Putting on that cocky smirk of his as Fong prattled on. "Oh, did they?" He gave the kid a warning look to keep his mouth shut, before letting him drop to the floor and scamper away like a roach.

"Big deal. How are you going to make sure the turtles don't get away again?" Chris groused gruffly as he came over to stand in front of his annoying colleague. "Easy. I'll give them a reason to stay." Xever drawled as if it were all so simple; a plan brewing in that twisted brain of his.

Later that night, when the master thief had his goons alone, he warned them about making any mention about Akira or the 24/7 shop in general to Chris Bradford or that he would see to it personally that they would not live to regret it. They agreed and then he sent them out to fetch a few things he would need for his plan.

The next day, when Akira and Jenny had time at school, the redette told her friend all about what had happened, before asking if Aki was going to be okay, and if Xever had stopped by to bother her since the incident.

Akira told her worrywart friend that she was fine, and that she hadn't seen the flirty eel since a few days before his goons attacked the shop. "Maybe he lost interest in you?" Jenny queried aloud.

"One can only hope. I would hate to think that this is what he does to somebody he likes." Akira replied derisively. "Ahhh, you _like_ him!" The boffin teased as she bumped the others arm with her elbow and winked; knowing how the twisted thief got on Aki's nerves.

"I most certainly do not." Akira looked offended, though her face did tinge just the tiniest from being teased by the impish redhead. Jen snickered. "Well, if you don't like him, then why do you put up with him?" It was a valid question that was often repeated periodically, but it still earned Jen a roll of those blue-green eyes.

"If I try to get rid of him, they will just replace him with someone else. Better the devil you know, as they say." The brunette was being dead serious, as at least she knew for the most part what Xever was about, and to an extent how to deal with him.

"Hmm... Good point." Jen mused thoughtfully; having always admired Akira's level of tolerance. "He's certainly no Leonardo, that's for sure. Huh, Aki-chan?" At the mention of the blue banded kappa and the playful tone of her friend, the brunettes blush darkened, before she reached over and poked the redheads shoulder.

The poke sent a little shock through Jenny; making her yelp at the light zapping the walking livewire of a teen had given her. She pouted and rubbed the spot but got the message to let up on the teasing, before they carried on with their conversation.

Later that day, when Akira went into work, she walked through the doors and was greeted by none other than the flirtatious eel of a ravenet himself; who was sitting languidly with his back to the counter and his arms splayed upon the edge of it as he faced the entrance because he had been waiting for her.

Xever stood up when she walked in and moved to walk around her; his hazel eyes lighting up when he could not see any visible damage to the foxy teen. "Olá, _Bela_. (Hello, _Beautiful._)" The suave young man greeted in that silky, fond tone of his that he seemed to have reserved just for her.

With a quick glance around, she noticed they were the only two there. Not like it ever mattered though, the man would shamelessly flirt with her on stage in front of millions if it came to that; though she hoped it never would.

"Where is my grandfather, Xever-san?" The eighteen year old beauty inquired in a firm yet level tone as she eyed him suspiciously. Knowing getting too upset with him would undoubtedly get her nowhere, and hurting him wasn't much of an option because the ravenet would probably like it.

"What? No hello? Tsk, tsk, Bela, where are your manners?" He tutted playfully with a wag of his finger; ignoring her question as he circled her for an entirely different reason now that he could see she was not hurt anywhere he could see, and reminding her of a shark circling its prey in the water.

She resisted the urge to sigh or roll her eyes and gave him her usual greeting as if the crook were coming in to dine. "Konichiwa. Now where is my grandfather?" He chuckled softly; his eyes lingering over hers as he came to stand in front of her with that towering figure of his. But unlike others, it didn't intimidate Akira, and he liked that.

"Ahh, straight to the point as always. I _like_ that about you, Akira." Xever held up a hand and snapped his fingers, which was the cue for his goons to lug in her unconscious grandfather who Fong held at knife point. Blue-green orbs widened with worry, and the usually cold-hearted thug couldn't help but feel somewhat bothered by that.

"Fret not, minha flor (my flower)." Xever assured as he stepped closer; placing a finger under her chin to make her look at him, so she could see he was sincere in what he said when he held up an aerosol can. "We did not harm the old man. This is a simple aerosolized knockout gas. In a few hours, he'll wake up fresh as a daisy."

It was odd that despite how reassuring he was trying to sound, it still came out somewhat disconcerting. But Aki could tell he was being honest. Then again, what reason did he ever have to lie to her? Xever held all the cards, and if he wanted to hurt her he could've tried at any time instead of pleasantly greeting her like he had.

"What do you want, Xever-san? If this is about the other night, it was your men who came and attacked us-" Akira began, but something in the smooth criminals demeanor changed and his eyes narrowed.

"They _what_?!" The infuriated romantic hissed before turning his head to glare daggers at his men. "Is this true?! Did you attack this place AGAINST _my_ orders?!" Xever was furious as Akira was left rather stunned.

It seemed the ravenet hadn't been the one to give the order after all; which only confirmed her suspicion that the idiots had been acting on their own. Heh... Jenny owed her twenty bucks.

Xever was many things, but even he had a sense of honor. And luckily, the brunette had come to learn that overtime. It was why Akira had been so surprised when the shop was attacked.

Between her having made her point across to Xever the first and only time they had ever fought, and the unstable romantic having done his best to make it plain that he had no intention of starting any trouble so long as he had no reason to, it hadn't made sense until now.

The punks visibly cringed. "W-well yeah, we did, but-" Fong began, but their boss wouldn't hear any excuses. "Imbecis! (Imbeciles!) I told you this place was _off limits_!" The Brazilian seethed as he stormed over to Fong, seized him by his scrawny neck and thrust him roughly against the wall.

"Ack! T-turtles!" The punk choked out as he felt his windpipe being mercilessly crushed. At the word "turtles", Xever grimaced but reluctantly loosened his grip enough for the other to breath and speak.

"What about the turtles?" He was in no mood for wanting to leave the fool alive for having crossed him in such a disrespectful way. But as Master Shredder had ordered him to find and slay the turtles, he couldn't very well extinguish any clue to finding them. Not yet at least…

"I-if we hadn't come here and messed the place up, we wouldn't have seen the turtles! But we're sorry Boss! Real, REAL sorry!" Fong pleaded desperately, as the other two began to say how sorry they were until their boss told them to shut up.

The ravenet considered for a moment; letting Fong sweat while he pretended to think it over. "Hmm... I _suppose_ you have a point." Xever mused before tightening his grip painfully again. "But disobey me again _worm_, and you'll find yourself rotting next to that idiota (idiot) cousin of yours, compreender? (understand?)"

Fong frantically shook his head. "Y-yeah Boss! H-he was like a cousin twice removed anyways. Hardly knew the guy, heh." Xever let the idiot drop to the floor in a pathetic heap.

"Well he's permanently removed now. Just as you'll be if you so much as look at this place without my permission." The demented delinquent warned. He watched with his lip curling in disgust at how the weakling scampered to his feet and over to the other cowering incompetents.

Having gotten his point across and wanting to be around someone who had a backbone, Xever turned his attention back to Akira, as he'd come here for a reason other than just to see her and make sure those disgusting turtles hadn't hurt her.

Unfortunately, those two goons had her grandfather and had picked up the knife to make sure she didn't try anything while Fong was being reprimanded. The brunette hated how helpless she felt, as Aki feared any sudden movement on her part might freak them out and cause them to accidentally harm her grandfather.

"Well then, where were we?" The ravenet smiled; his voice softening as he reached up and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face. His anger wilting away as he gazed upon the delicate yet fiery flower, as she tried not to glare at him; her hands balled into fists at her sides as her fingernails dug into the palms. "I would hope explaining as to why you are holding my grandfather hostage."

He frowned; noticing that she seemed upset. The thief guessed he could see why, but he hadn't hurt the old guy or anything. "I do apologize, minha flor (my flower), but I'm afraid I'll be needing to... _borrow_ him for a while." Xever explained; not thinking she needed to know the entirety of his plan.

"_Borrow_? He is not a videogame, Xever-san, he is my grandfather!" Akira felt her anger beginning to bubble to the surface. She knew she shouldn't be but so mad considering that Xever could've done far worse to her or her grandfather since their first meeting.

As the curious criminal could've easily beaten him unconscious instead of being considerate and wasting any resource to get knockout gas to use instead, but Akira had no idea what the crazy crook was going to do with her obaa-san. Though whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

Xever sighed and reached up to cup her angelic face with either of his hands in an effort to comfort her, as he stepped in closer; leaning down some so that his face was only a few inches from her face as he reveled in the way her soft, warm skin naturally and almost always sent a faint tingling through his fingers where they touched her.

"Now, now, Bela. No need to be angry with me. I'll bring him back." It actually creeped out his minions at how nice the raven haired maniac was being to the possibly equally insane brunette.

Akira closed her eyes briefly to consider his words and brace herself for what she knew she needed to do. And when she opened them, they shone brightly with determination.

"Whatever you intend to use him for, let me take his place." Akira's voice was gentle, but it was not weak and pathetic. In fact, it still held that boldness to it that was prone to tug at the ravenets resolve as she negotiated sweetly; feeling a little dirty for having to use such tactics, but willing to in order to spare her grandfather.

The usually smooth criminal blinked and then frowned. "No! Certainly not! You could-" He began; his emotions running away with his mouth, but Aki cut in with narrowing eyes.

"Could what? Get hurt?" When Xever opened his mouth to answer but found he could not, he scowled. "That's what I thought." The brunette did her best to try and bottle up what she was feeling, and look up at the other with a beseeching expression that tore at even the ruthless thief's heartstrings as she moved in just an inch or so closer.

"_Please_, Xever-san... Let me take his place." Akira pleaded in a tone to match her expression; those big, soulful blue-green pools bore into his, and the wiry man shook his head slowly and sighed as his resolution melted.

"Minha flor bela (My beautiful flower)..." The demented romantic breathed almost bittersweetly; his thumb stroking over her cheek. "Very well. But you must do as I tell you. Try any of your little tricks, and-" But Akira was sick of hearing him threatening people and rolled her eyes.

"Unlike your goons, _Xever-san_, I understand." The teen stated somewhat defiantly as she reached up and casually removed his hands from her face. Xever chuckled softly; finding her to be quite amusing and strong willed for such a delicate little flower.

"Heh, you know... I believe you do, _Akira_." The ravenet practically purred with a knowingly warm smile before he straightened up. "Well, you heard Bela! Change of plans!" Xever called brightly to his goons as he turned and snaked a one of his willowy arms around Akira's slender shoulders.

"Leave the cook in the kitchen and tie him up." And with that, the crazed criminal led a slightly reluctant secret ninja from the noodle shop to where Xever intended to go to enact his plan. But not before leaving a little note for the turtles to find.

He knew Akira wouldn't have let him leave with her grandfather without a fight, that would probably end very badly for both sides, and he didn't need that. Nor did he have the time to try and argue with his Bela, as he knew that wouldn't do any good either.

Aki's strong will was both a delight and an annoyance at times, that Xever wasn't quite sure how to handle her. So it was simpler to just take her and hope for the best. Xever knew that Akira would keep to her word to protect the old man though, and couldn't help but be rather pleased to have his arm draped around the psychotic server like he did.

It would've been nicer had it been under more romantic and willing circumstances, but Xever supposed he'd have to take what he could get. His toothy grin widening as he pulled her closer to him while they walked, and chortling cheekily when he heard her give a squeak of surprise as it caused Akira to lose her balance and reach up to cling to him for support.

The pouting glare Akira shot him simply made it all the more worth it, and he reached over to poke her cheek with his free hand; laughing like the madman he was when the feisty flower snapped at the offending digit with her teeth in annoyance as he yanked it away quickly.

Such a marvelously foxy and violent sylph his Bela was, Xever thought fondly as he continued to play with her like that the whole way to their destination, and even a little after he was done explaining the brunettes part in his plan to her.

It wasn't anything Xever wouldn't or hadn't tried to do during his previous visits to the 24/7, so Akira was oddly used to his antics and knew how to play along; not feeling like she needed to call in the assistance of Jen or the rest of their team.

If things got bad, the crafty brunette could handle herself, and even Xever if she had to. However, she hoped the turtles would show up, so she could get back to her obaa-san and get this day over with already.

Having been worried, April went to Mr. Murakami's to see if everything was okay. Unfortunately, she couldn't find anyone but an unconscious Murakami-san tied up and unconscious in the back room, and a letter she thought her friends needed to see. She quickly called up the turtles and told them where to meet her.

The ginger was hesitant about whether or not to call Jenny since this obviously involved the Foot clan now. Besides, since April agreed not to say anything, there wasn't any reason in calling to tell a lie.

She didn't want the redhead worrying for nothing if the turtles could find Akira in time; which she was certain they would. Besides, Jen had mentioned having to get home so her family wouldn't worry, since her spending so much time with the ginger was starting to cut into her home life.

And April wasn't about to be the one to ruin Jen's evening or get her in trouble. She already bothered her friend enough by getting her to hang out for the ginger haired girls own selfish reasons.

As the turtles dropped down onto the sidewalk where they saw April pacing, Leo asked "April, what's wrong?" to which she answered with wide eyes "It's Murakami!" before they went into the shop to investigate.

"Someone knocked him out and left this." The ginger said as she went over and gestured to the note that was stuck on the wall by one of Xever's knives; as poor Murakami-san was still out cold in the back room. "Sweet! Free knife." Mikey grinned. "The note, dummy." Donnie said exasperatedly.

Donnie plucked the note from the wall and read it aloud to April and his brothers. "No more running. If you want the old mans granddaughter, meet us on the roof of the Fortune Cookie Factory."

Leonardo felt a cold chill run down his shell at the twisted turn of events. Xever... had _Akira_?! _'That poor, gentle maiden! She must be so frightened!' _Leo thought, as that chivalrous "save the damsel in distress" side of him kicked in while he tried to quell it and think straight.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's bust in there and save Akira!" Raphael said as he made a fist, and for once, Leo couldn't help but feel the same, as he was worried about what might happen to the beautiful brunette he was crushing on.

There was no telling what that fiend Xever was doing to her with every second they wasted standing around. But even so, they still had to be smart about this. Leo tried to push aside his own feelings to keep them from clouding his judgment. "Not so fast. Think, Raphael." Leonardo reasoned.

"There's two words that don't usually go together." Donnie quipped, but Leo ignored him as he took that moment to gather his wits. "This is obviously a trap." Their blue banded brother told them. "Well, what choice do we have?" Raph asked; getting really tired of always having to play the good guy.

"Maybe we _do _need to think more like Xever." Leo smirked with a mischievous glint in his eyes; having been thinking over an idea he'd had in his head since Raph inspired it. "But Master Splinter said-" Donnie began uncertainly.

"I know!" Leo cut in. "But Xever crossed the line dragging Akira into this. He's got to learn that we can cross that line, too." The blue banded ninja said in that heroic way of his as he smacked a fist against the palm of his hand. "No more Mr. Nice Turtle."

Raphael did a fist pump. "YES! I never liked Mr. Nice Turtle!" He cheered; getting psyched about where this plan was headed already. And after that, the four of them went to the tattoo parlor where they stood, going over the plan.

"Okay, he's strong, so speed and stealth are essential. Okay, everybody know the plan?" Their leader asked as he turned to look at each of them in turn. They all nodded, except Michelangelo; who was grinning goofily like he wasn't paying attention. "Mikey?" Leo asked impatiently.

"Yes." The youngest replied somewhat flatly with that big grin still plastered on his face; making Leo get a bit suspicious. "Are you sure?" He quirked an eyebrow at the youngest turtle. "Yeeeees." Mike said again like he knew it for sure.

"Tell me what it is." The eldest brother ordered lightly to see if Mikey was faking it or not; as the orange banded brother tended to daydream... a LOT. And had been doing so more often since he'd met the ash-brunet, but they didn't need to know that.

Michelangelo tried to think of what the plan was, but nothing came to mind besides a bunch of stuff he liked; like videogames, playing, pizza and Danny, playing videogames with Danny, playing around with Danny, OH! And having pizza with Danny! "Um, maybe we should go over it one more time?" He asked sheepishly.

After going over it ONE more time, the turtles set to work. As soon as Bradford came out of his now repaired dojo, they pounced; using Raphael as a distraction, before they had Chris on the ground and tied up with duct tape over his mouth.

Then, they stuffed him in a trashcan and chained it just to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. "Gentlemen, welcome to the other side of the line." The blue banded turtle said _all cool like _with his hands on his hips.

"Now I'm definitely going to need a tat." Mikey said; all hyped up on playing at being a bad boy, before he groaned in pain when Raph punched his arm before they set back to work. "Dang, this sucker's heavy!" Raphael grunted as he and Mikey lifted up the freshly canned villain.

They accidentally dropped it and sent it rolling into a brick wall with a loud clang. They could hear pained cries from their enemy inside. "Sorry!" Mikey said almost out of reflex. "Don't apologize to him." Raph chided with crossed arms.

"I-I mean, sorry I didn't drop you _harder_!" The young turtle sassed. "There you go!" His older bro said approvingly with a smile. As they rolled Bradford along mercilessly, Raphael enjoyed a little smack talking while the cans occupant angrily growled or painfully groaned.

"Uh oh, you guys. Look!" Donnie breathed as they came around a corner and peered up to see poor Akira tied up with a rope; hanging precariously from a perch that stuck out from the Fortune Cookie Factory, as none other than Xever stood on it over her with a rather villainously gleeful smirk on his face.

"Dude, Xever's a _jerk_." Mikey commented crossly as they all glared up at the scene. Leo couldn't believe that cretin could do something to someone so sweet! The urge he felt to just go up there and save her came rearing its ugly head again, trying to cloud his judgment, but the turtle fought to push it back down.

They'd save her, he knew that. But they had to be smart about it, Leo kept telling himself. They had to...! After hauling the heavy trashcan up to the roof, Xever regarded them with a pleased look; like a lantern fish seeing some dumb fish taking its bait. "We're here, Xever. Now let the noodle girl go!"

Unbeknownst to the four heroes in a half shell, just before they showed up, Xever went to stand on the perch over Akira and knelt down while he waited for his quarry to fall prey to his clever trap; since one of the Foot ninjas said they had spotted them not far off.

"Remember, Bela, make it look good and you're home free." The demented delinquent said sweetly; finding it quite lovely how well Akira was playing along with this little game of 'catch the turtles' he had going on.

Akira merely rolled her eyes. "I bet you say that to all the girls, eh Xever-san?" The brunette quipped dryly. The vivacious villain flashed her a charming smile. "Oh no, _minha querida (my dear), _just _you_."

At this point Akira understood a lot of his language as he did hers; or at least the parts of it that they used around one another. But every now and then one of them required a translation; which the other rarely ever minded giving.

And upon the questioning look she gave him after being unable to recall what it meant, the handsome Brazilian told her its meaning, and chuckled at the pouting scowl she shot him as pink dusted her fair features. Oh, this night was proving to be worth all the aggravation the turtles had previously caused him, Xever mused.

But getting back to current events… "Sorry, there's been a change of plans." Xever replied smugly, giving cue to the Foot ninjas that had been hiding to appear. "Actually, there's been _another_ change of plans." Leo countered just as cheekily as his brothers lifted up the trashcan to show their bearded trump card.

"I love it when a change of plans comes together." Donnie sighed smilingly. "You let our friend go and we'll let your friend go." The naïve eldest ninja turtle told the ravenet. Xever couldn't contain his laughter; it came out sharp and dark.

The dangerous delinquent found the fact that the turtles thought Bradford was his friend, and how they dared to call Akira _their_ friend was frankly hilarious if not a bit irritating, when he thought such filthy freaks as they weren't even worthy to gaze upon _his_ flor bela (beautiful flower).

"He's not my friend." It really was funny, to him at least... The only person whose life Xever would even consider saving or bargaining for was the very one he had dangling precariously by a rope. It was downright ironic really.

'_Heh, idiota (idiot) turtles!' _The ravenet couldn't help thinking in amusement, as he went over to the perch and knelt down whilst he flicked out his butterfly knife. Xever held the blade to the rope and began to saw it, as Akira tried to look helpless.

The smooth criminal had explained this little catch as it were, when he told Akira his plan, that he was probably going to have to make a point by cutting some of the rope; but assured her that she would be safe.

Not exactly much of a comfort in her mind, coming from someone who was about as mentally unstable as her grandfathers cooking was delicious. But it wasn't like the crafty secret ninja couldn't take care of herself if things got dicey, which was something Akira knew Xever understood, and was undoubtedly the reason he was letting Aki do this.

"Uh, we're not kidding. O-okay, st-stop or we'll toss him!" Leo threatened as his calm tone began to quaver, which was Raph's cue to hang Chris off the side of the rooftop; his azure eyes flickering down and seeing poor Akira hanging by a thread.

Unfortunately Akira was trying to feign a look of panic, which made her feel bad when she saw how upset it seemed to be making the turtles; Leonardo in particularly. But she couldn't let that distract her. She was doing this for her obaa-san (grandfather), and Aki had to keep telling herself that.

"Go ahead. It'll save me the trouble." Xever grinned as if the turtle just offered to help him out with a chore; though the Brazilian nut job couldn't help wanting the turtles to cease their pathetic bluff so that he could stop cutting at the thick rope, or else he might end up being the one who was bluffing…

"Uh, Raph?" Leo asked tentatively. "Aw, crud..." Raph grumbled; knowing what was gonna come next as he pulled Bradford away from the ledge and tossed him safely to the ground.

Xever chuckled devilishly at having won. "That's what I thought. Attack!" The lanky minion of Shredder cried as he pointed to the turtles. The Foot ninjas swept out and did as they were ordered; splitting up the turtles to fight them, while Xever had fun throwing kunai knives at his foes.

Fong was very hesitant about trying to attack the blue banded turtle, but tried for it anyway, as he knew Xever wouldn't be pleased if he didn't at least try. But Leonardo decked him one, before sparing him yet again; those blue eyes narrowing in silent warning.

Leo had more important things to worry about than focusing on trying to take out someone weaker than himself; whether Fong deserved it or not. And Leo couldn't help remembering Akira's face whenever he began to think that the creep did.

Akira felt the rope lower with a sudden jerk, and looked up to see that it was starting to give way because Xever had cut it too much. She gave an aggravated sigh and began to use her symbiotic suit to form a knife in her hand to saw at the rope that was binding her. That way, if the tether broke, she could free her arms to catch herself.

The overzealous cutter in question was currently being reprimanded by a rather irate Chris Bradford, who had cut his own ropes with one of the kunai knives Xever had been throwing at the turtles, and now had his colleague by the arm. "How could you be so sure they were bluffing?!"

"I wasn't." Xever smirked as he pulled his arm out of the others grasp. Bradford glared, but had to let it go for now since they were supposed to be fighting the turtles, not each other. As the two villains and their minions surrounded the terrapins, Bradford spoke. "Let's settle the score, pond scum!"

"We're the ones who _didn't _wanna throw you off the room!" Donatello shouted crossly. And as they continued to fight, and Aki sawed at her bindings, the rope ripped a little bit more...

Geez! None of them realized just how _fast_ Xever was! One second he was there attacking you, and then when you went to turn and retaliate, he was gone! The ravenet was a veritable speedster with the agile way he moved! And the hits he landed were just as strong as he was freakishly nimble.

Between him and Bradford, they had the turtles on their shells in no time flat. "See, Bradford?" Chuckled the smooth criminal. "That is how you catch turtles. And next, I'll show you how to _filet _them." Xever emphasized wickedly as he spun his blade around stylishly.

"You'd never have caught them without me and you know it." Bradford said; pointing a very unwanted finger in the others face. Xever laughed coldly. "Oh, yes. What would we have done without your brave leadership from _inside the trashcan_?"

The rich boy was such an arrogant twit thinking that it was his help that assisted in the turtles capture, when Xever knew that ironically, it was his captive querida (darling) Akira who had provided what was needed to lure those foolishly heroic turtles.

But as he and Bradford argued, Fong was having an internal conflict as to what he should do. Because Leo had shown him mercy more than once, and because he knew he owed that mercy to the scary server girl who'd stopped the turtle in the first place, he felt like he should do something.

So Fong took the katana near him, and tossed it down for Leo to retrieve and use, to give him a fighting chance. When the turtle looked up at him, Fong pretended he didn't notice and Leo smiled. Huh, maybe mercy did have its benefits…

"Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to cut these turtles into little pieces." Xever turned to begin his work, when he was surprised to find a blade in his face for a change; being held by none other than the katana wielding turtle, Leonardo.

"I don't think so." The turtles brave and sometimes corny leader told him, before doing a quick flip and slicing down the wooden water tower. It crashed and flooded the roof; washing off all the surprised riffraff that was the Foot clan.

And as the shock of it and the cold water hit the stunned scoundrel, Xever's barely had time to catch one last glimpse of Akira; his hand reaching out instinctively toward the brunette, before he hit the ground below and everything went black…!

Unfortunately, the sudden rush of water also finished snapping the rope and caused Akira to begin falling. Having thought of this, as the water went rushing everywhere, Leo sent Mikey to catch her. And just as he reached for her, Aki pulled her arms free of the ropes and grabbed ahold of his hand.

"I got her!" Mikey called up triumphantly, as he held onto the handle of his nun chucks; thankful it had a chain for situations like this one. Akira had her arms wrapped around his neck as Michelangelo held her securely around the waist. His brothers, especially Leo, were relieved.

"Nice save, Mikey!" His eldest brother praised. "Don't look down, Akira-san. Or, um, listen down." The orange banded turtle advised. Aki wanted to remind him that it was her grandfather who was blind and not her, but she was just relieved this whole thing was over for now, so she just smiled some instead.

Though… a small part of her hoped the demented delinquent was okay; not really being the type to really wish him or others harm unless given a good reason. And since she'd agreed to be turtle bait of her own accord in exchange for her grandfathers safety, Akira couldn't really blame anyone but herself if she got hurt.

And as Leo glanced over and saw Fong peeking at them before he took off running, Leonardo couldn't help but grin and feel really good about the lesson he'd learned in compassion.

Once they were on the roof, Akira folded her hands over her lap and gave them a bow. "Arigato gozaimasu (Thank you very much), my friends." Leo blushed a little and rubbed his forearm. "I-it was nothing. We were happy to help." He tried to say all calm and cool like a hero.

Raphael rolled his eyes. Aki smiled at him, and Leo couldn't help but notice it seemed a little sad, as she felt bad for having assisted in Xever's plan, even if she was sure the turtles could handle themselves and had done so rather wonderfully. "I greatly appreciate what you have done, but I must get back to my obaa-san to make sure he is unharmed."

"Oh... well..." The blue banded turtle wasn't quite sure what to say. He didn't really want her to go just yet... after all, they _did_ just save her. She held up her hand delicately to her mouth and chuckled at the turtles disappointed look. "You are welcome to come with me if you like. Perhaps we can make you more pizzagyoza as thanks."

Well that was certainly the right thing to say, as all four turtles suddenly whooped happily and saw her safely to the noodle shop. Leo wanted to try talking to her on the way there, but he had no idea what to say and kept ending up shyly staring at her from the corner of his eye.

"Accept this token of my gratitude. Pizzagyoza!" Mr. Murakami said when they had returned his granddaughter to him unharmed; handing them a big bag of the tasty pizza dumplings to take back home with them.

As soon as he knew Aki was there, the man pulled her into a great big hug and began fussing over her as he spoke in frantic Japanese. Akira chortled airily and did her best to reassure him that Xever did not hurt her; speaking their native tongue as he always found that comforting.

"Awesome! Thanks, Murakami-san." Donatello thanked as he accepted the gift. "You're welcome, turtle-san." Mr. Murakami said; taking them all by surprise. "Wait, how did you..." Leo began bemusedly. They looked at Akira; who held up her hands and sweat dropped. "Do not look at me, friends. I said nothing."

"I do have other senses. Touch. Smeeeeell." Murakami explained smilingly. Then it clicked and the three brothers realized it was Mikey's fault. "You don't think we're weird and scary?" Leo asked hesitantly as his gaze flicked to Akira; worriedly wondering what she thought as well.

"You saved my granddaughters life! Who am I to complain?" The blind chef told them, and Akira nodded in agreement. "Hai (Yes), if not for you, who knows what might've happened." Mikey, overcome with joy that they'd made two new friends, gave Mr. Murakami a hug.

And then, much to Leo's surprise and slight envy, gave Akira one too. Aki smiled and returned it; giving him a gentle pat on the shell. "Heh, such kind kappa you all are." She chortled lightly as he pulled away. Mikey beamed and laughed too.

It was late and they had to get home before Master Splinter and April began to worry about if they'd won or not. "So, uh… I guess we better get going…" Leonardo said as he rubbed his upper arm.

"Hai, it is quite late. And there is much tidying up here to be done for us." Akira replied coolly. "Right… so…" Leo trailed off as his eyes rose up to meet hers as he sweat dropped; wondering why he felt so at a loss for what to say around the lovely brunette.

Seeing the turtles distress, Akira kindly reached out and took the others hand in both of hers. "Thank you again for saving me, Leonardo-san… I hope to see you again soon. And your brothers too of course." Aki added the last part with a small blush as she smiled warmly at Leo.

The timid turtle could only return her sweet smile with a coy one of his own; his green cheeks glowing a rosy hue as he could only nod in reply while he enjoyed holding the cute humans hand.

Akira let his hand go slowly, and took a step back, so that the turtles could bid their new friends goodnight and head home. And not long after that, was Donnie trying to feed April a pizzagyoza.

"Just try one. Sometimes things that don't seem like they go together actually make a great couple. I-I mean, food!" Jenny, who April had called and told about what had happened, was sitting on Donnie's other side and snickered. "Great save, Donnie boy." Jen teased airily.

The brainy turtle shot her a pouting glare, before he turned back to his task of trying to tempt April into eating the plump dumpling. She glanced to Jenny, who shrugged and so the ginger sighed.

"Fine..." April said in defeat, before opening her mouth to let Donnie feed her a bite; disliking people trying to feed her like she was some kind of baby, but knowing he wouldn't let up until she let him.

April ended up liking the curious concoction and stole Donnie's plateful; leaving the turtle to sigh sadly as he watched her grossly stuff her face like the food was going out of style. Jenny gave him a little nudge with her elbow.

Donnie turned to scowl at the playful boffin, as he thought she might be about to tease him some more. But those reddish brown eyes only widened in surprise when she held up a gyoza between her red chopsticks and offered it to him. Don gave her a questioning look; wondering what she was up to.

"I can't eat them all by myself. Might as well share." Jen stated nonchalantly. When he continued to eye her suspiciously, she shrugged. "Fine. Guess I'll go share with Mikey or Raph. I'm sure _they'd _appreciate it." Jenny said as she made to get up.

But Donnie started and placed his hand on her shoulder to keep Jen where she was. "W-wait... I didn't mean, uh... that is to say, I wouldn't _mind _sharing I guess. It's just that-" Donnie stammered out sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Uh huh. Just shut up and eat, Don Juan." Jen played as she tickled at his lips with the dumpling. April watched as she scarfed down her food; thinking those two were kinda cute when they managed to get along.

Donnie got all red in the face, but ate it before Jen could do anything else with it; finding it hard to get annoyed with the redhead when the gyoza tasted so good. Jenny smiled good-naturedly at the turtles compliance, and they continued to share, as the others chatted amongst themselves.

"You boys showed your strength today." Splinter said to his sons; pleased with their achievement. "Yeah, but we almost got beaten." Raph groused grumpily and poked at his gyoza. "Your strength was _mercy_. That is why the Purple Dragon helped you." Their sensei edified eloquently.

"Well? Say it." Leo teased his short-tempered brother. "Okay, okay. You were right." The red banded brother admitted. "Ah, see? That wasn't so-" Leo began, as he gave Raph a pat on the back, but Raphael wasn't quite done yet.

"Your wimpiness might not be _totally _useless." Leo scoffed good-naturedly. "I'll show you who's wimpy! No mercy!" The blue banded brother declared as he tackled his meatheaded sibling, and they began roughhousing.

Meanwhile, back at the NYC lair of the Foot clan, Xever and Bradford; who were now conscious from having spent a bit of time in the infirmary, were kneeling at the mercy of a merciless master. The menacing mans displeased growl echoed eerily around the room. "This is _unacceptable_!" Shredder snarled.

"Humble apologies, Master Shredder." Bradford whimpered like a beaten dog; hardly daring to look up at his master. "I swear, next time, we will-" Xever began angrily, but Shredder did not want to hear it.

"Enough!" The dark warrior bellowed; making even Xever wince and grow quiet. Shredder stood and began stepping down the steps from his throne with purpose; striding passed his useless henchmen without so much as looking at them, like they weren't even there.

"I shall deal with Hamato Yoshi's disciples _myself_." Oroku Saki growled forebodingly. Xever and Bradford watched their master leave uneasily, then turned to exchange brief looks as if they almost felt sorry for the turtles, before choosing to go their separate ways to attend to the new tasks they'd been given for their failures as a sort of punishment; least they start arguing about something.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**WHEW! LoL That was a long one! XD Especially since I have to edit my Slash version of this fic as well. X3 **

**So anywho! How are ya'll liking my AU version so far? I've done my best to keep the characters in character considering this is my Alternate Universe version and all, so please take it with a grain of salt. ^_^ ****And I also like making matters seem a bit more realistic; like how I made it so Raphael didn't "Master" his anger like he thinks he did in the chapter "Turtle Temper", by having complicated and situations like the one where Akira has to put up with Xever's antics and such. XD Or Donnie's whole "I hate Jen, but I can't help but like her" thing, since I've dealt with similar situations or known people who have. ^_^**

**OH! And don't worry about Karai. XD I've got plans for her so that it should all work out. **


	24. Two Sides, Same Blade

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): ****Any language besides English that I used, I learned is from Google Translate and the rest of the internet, so if I got anything wrong, my sincerest apologies. **

**Remember to leave a nice review to show you liked it. You don't need to be signed in. ^_^ **

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><p><strong>"Two Sides, Same Blade"<strong>

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><p>Leonardo had been rather curious about how the lovely Akira was fairing, and so when the sun began to sink below the horizon and school had long since let out, the turtle headed out to see if the brunette was working that night. However, as he set out, the blue banded terrapin would find that he wasn't the only one with that idea…<p>

After the fight that the turtles and the Purple Dragons had had in their shop, and the fact that Akira's grandfather needed to be checked out in the hospital to make sure he was unharmed by the knockout gas Xever had used on him, the 24/7 had been closed for a few days to receive the necessary repairs.

This only served to make the ruthless ravenet even more agitated than he had been when losing to the turtles for a second time and being reprimanded by the Shredder, as if he were an insolent child instead of a master thief and fierce fighter.

Xever had wanted to make sure Akira was okay since he'd been unable to get to her after the fall knocked him unconscious. And then after having recovered, his boss kept him busy with menial tasks as punishment. The curious crook had hoped seeing the brunette would help to sooth his savage soul the way it usually did.

However, he wasn't a very patient man when he didn't want to be, and so having gotten sick of his own lack of cooking skills and crummy takeout, and having finished with the lame work he had for the day, the suave scoundrel went to seek means to acquire his meal and the company that went with it another way than waiting for the shop to reopen.

Being the smooth stalker that he was, he'd found out which school that Akira attended a while ago, among other things; though personally he preferred the term _ardent admirer_. Xever waited across the street in the shade of an alleyway as he watched for his foxy flower to come out.

When he didn't spot Akira take the direction that she usually took alongside that redheaded friend of hers, whose name escaped him (not that he really cared to remember), the ravenet frowned and waited a while longer.

But Akira still did not show. So, thinking he knew where she might be, Xever snuck into the school and went to the one place he'd seen Aki go on a few occasions before when he had come to see what the crafty teen was up to.

Carefully rounding the corner that led into the room that held the indoor pool which the swim team used, Xever smirked slyly as he heard the sound of splashing and peered out to see that his Bela was indeed having herself a bit of a swim.

Akira had been enjoying a nice dip in the pool after a boring day of academics, as though she had electric based mutant powers, the brunette felt drawn to the water and loved to swim.

She'd loved it ever since she was little and her mother was still alive to take the sly server swimming. Thankfully that was also before Aki had her powers, but was grateful that her powers didn't interfere with it either way.

One thing the young Murakami hadn't been expecting to see when she rose up for air, after finishing a lap and looking up at hearing the sound of leisurely clapping, was an unfortunately familiar raven haired rascal; who waved at her as if they were good friends or something.

"Olá, minha querida. (Hello, my dear.)" Xever greeted pleasantly; his mood improving already. But then again, how could it not when he got to see Akira dripping wet in a formfitting bathing suit?

The water made the fabric cling even more provocatively to that petite body, which could be clearly seen when her top half rose up out of the water as Akira pulled herself up by the ledge where Xever was standing; the sight giving him such _tempting_ ideas…

Sure, it was a light jade green one piece, but it had cute white ruffles around that budding chest and a matching short skirt that the ravenet thought better accented the others sylphlike physique.

"Xe-Xever-san? What are you doing here?" Akira gasped in surprise as she tried to catch her breath from the lap she'd just taken and use her hand to brush the water from her face to see him better and to keep it from going up her nose.

Akira knew the wiry man was sly and that he seemed to have an interest in her, but in the beginning she didn't really think he would've given a hoot about where Aki went to school or anything like that, since she figured the frustrating flirt would've ended up chasing after someone else by now and simply wasn't the type.

But after catching a glimpse of the dark haired delinquent every now and then, and getting an occasional visit like this one when she was swimming, the brunette was starting to wonder. Was Xever… _stalking_ _her_?

Akira sincerely hoped such was not the case and would've preferred his irritating ways didn't come to bother her outside of the noodle shop. But usually when he came by for a visit, he only ever stayed until the brunette left. Unless she was going to work; which meant Xever took it upon himself to escort her there.

"I was in the neighborhood when-" The ravenet began lying smoothly. "Iie (No). Try again." Akira interrupted bluntly; knowing it was a lie. Xever gave a slightly pouting frown; wondering how she was so good at doing that.

"Very well… I'm hungry." The wiry thief admitted as he crossed his arms over his lean chest where he stood; sounding a tad like a child. The brunette raised a curious eyebrow.

"So? Go get something to eat." It didn't seem a complicated thing to do. Why did he feel the need to seek out Akira? "Heh, what do you think I'm doing?" Xever smirked cheekily.

The psychotic server rolled her eyes. "The shop is closed for repairs, no thanks to you and those baka (idiot) goons of yours." Akira informed him as she drifted away to float on her back; hoping he'd leave her alone now. But no such luck.

"Ugh, don't remind me." The young man sighed; feeling agitated that those imbecis (imbeciles) had dared to disobey him like that. They were just lucky Akira hadn't gotten hurt in the process, or they wouldn't have lived passed that night; not that he still wasn't considering _changing _that…

Hearing his tone, Aki spared him a glance as she realized that hadn't been very fair to say in view of how upset she remembered Xever getting upset when he found out they had harassed her and her grandfather, and how he how in the criminals own way, he had defended both his and Akira's honor.

Even if he was the leader of those scumbags, and a lot of other things when he wanted to be, the brunette could see that Xever himself wasn't _really_ so bad; even if he came off that way to most people. From what Akira could figure, he'd just been dealt a bad hand and handled it in his own way, just like everyone else.

Young Akira knew she might regret asking, but... "Xever-san… is something the matter?" The possibly too kind server inquired gently; knowing the smooth criminal sometimes popped up to see her because something was bugging him or he just wasn't feeling so smooth, so to speak.

The ravenet grumbled inaudibly and glanced away as his fingers tensed slightly on his arms where they were crossed; clearly not wanting to talk about it. "So why are you here, if the shop is closed?" Akira asked; wisely changing the subject since that topic was currently a dead end.

"I'm hungry." Xever repeated plainly and still somewhat childishly; as if that explained everything. But oddly, it sort of did. "The shop is closed." Akira iterated coolly. "You could come to my place to cook?" The flirtatious eel offered silkily as his lips curled upward into that charming smirk of his when the idea came to mind.

"I am NOT going to your place, Xever-san." Akira stated firmly; blue-green eyes narrowing warily up at the sly scoundrel, as she sunk down into the water up to her lips like an annoyed alligator and blew little bubbles while making sure not to get any water in her mouth.

"Aw, what's wrong, Bela? Don't you _trust_ me?" The ravenet asked with his fingers pressed to his chest; feigning a look of hurt to match the tone. "Would you?" The brunette countered with a skeptically raised eyebrow as she rose up enough to answer. "Heh, point taken." Xever chuckled in amusement.

"Why can you not make something yourself?" The secret ninja thought to ask. But Xever merely waved the question off with a dismissive hand. In truth, the secret Foot henchman wasn't much of a cook, but he wasn't exactly ashamed of it either.

"I'm sick of sandwiches." The crooked crook edified flippantly. "Now may we go? I'm starving." He said impatiently. "Five more laps, and I shall make you something to eat." Akira negotiated coolly; having had to reason with the crazy romantic on more than one occasion since he wouldn't leave Aki alone until some compromise was made.

Xever considered and made a counter offer. "Two." He said stubbornly. "Six." Aki countered. The leader of the Purple Dragons frowned slightly. He really hated it when the other used this tactic. "Three."

"Ten." Ever the straight-faced little fox the brunette was. "Ten?! Where the hell did you get-" Xever began ranting incredulously, but then saw Akira slyly smirk a little and couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head as he got an idea.

It seemed that, over time, the two of them had developed some strange sort of relationship akin to a friendship and yet not quite. Neither could really describe it, but somehow it worked, and that was all either really cared about; Xever because he enjoyed Akira's company and Akira because it kept her grandfather safe.

"Sete (seven), _but_ you have to sit and eat with me. Final offer." The ravenet stated as he held up seven fingers to make sure the other understood. Akira gave a thoughtful little hum before giving a nod. "Done."

Akira didn't really like the idea of eating with him, but she was getting two more laps than she thought she'd get, and would probably end up hungry anyway, since Xever would undoubtedly keep her until he was done eating or longer.

Now that their terms were out of the way, Xever went to sit on the bleachers to watch Akira swim her six laps and enjoy the view. Once she had finished and went to clean up in the girls locker room where the showers were, Akira went over to stand in front of where the ravenet sat with a slightly bored look on his face, to show that she was ready to leave.

Akira had her backpack slung over one shoulder as she watched him stand and slide his hands into the pockets of his jeans. They casually walked side by side together out of the school and to the market near the 24/7 after she asked Xever what he wanted to eat and he told her.

They did some shopping, which Xever always had fun doing since he got to do a bit of pickpocketing just because he felt like it, or because he got a bit of a kick out of getting caught by Akira, and watching how the brunette used her own skills to slip back whatever the sly Brazilian had taken.

But at some point during their little outing, the ravenet saw one of those little photo booths and got another idea. Though Akira told him it was silly, he argued that it wasn't every day that he was able to steal the foxy flower away from the restaurant like he had, and wanted to commemorate the occasion.

So he took the pretty petite by the hand and drug the stubborn sylph into the photo booth with him; relishing the confined space and how Aki gave a cute little squeak of protest at being pulled and made to sit on his lap. There was plenty of room for both of them, but Xever wanted an excuse to hold her.

Quickly ensnaring the ravishing little raposa (fox) of a teen by coiling an arm around that small waist to keep her from getting away, Xever reached out with the other hand and pushed a few buttons after popping in some money.

However, Akira's squirming ceased and she tensed up when having heard the tall man groan from the pleasurable feeling of the secret ninja unconsciously grinding against his lap as she tried to get away.

"Oh, _please, _don't stop on my account, _minha doce flor. (my sweet flower_.) It was just getting good." Xever purred in a mischievously wanton way into her ear, as he pulled his chocolate haired angel back flush against his chest, while he wrapped those long arms around her like a squid with its prey.

Akira scoffed blushingly and elbowed him in the ribs; earning a little "Oof!" from the Brazilian, who snickered and loosened his grip on her a little. "I was jooooooking, minha querida! (my dear!) _Reeeeelax_!" Xever assured; feigning innocence as he held up his hands in front of her to show he meant no harm, while using his arms to keep the brunette in place.

But Aki folded her arms over her chest right above where he was holding her, and gave him a deadpan look that showed she wasn't buying it, and the ravenet found he wasn't able to hold back the devious smirk that curled his lips as he reached out and held out a hand to push one of the buttons.

"Get ready to _smile_, Bela!" The devilish degenerate said before he pushed the button and posed for the picture. Once they were done, Akira exited the vile picture taking device with a rather foxlike smirk as Xever followed suit; holding a hand to his forehead where it looked like a bruise might be forming and pouting.

"Did you _really_ have to do that?" The vivacious villain asked as he rubbed at the sore spot on his forehead. "Hai (Yes)." Was the short and curt answer that Xever received from the brunette; who also had a similar mark on her forehead. "Arrrh! I should punish you for that." He growled in annoyance at the pain as he leaned down toward her. But it was an idle threat and even Akira knew it.

Akira stuck out two of her fingers and skipped them up from Xever's chest to his nose in a manner one does when making the little walking gesture. "You. Can. _Try_." The crafty teen emphasized each word easily with each skip; flicking the tall mans nose ever so lightly with the tip of her finger and making the criminal blush lightly.

Obviously not at all fazed by his threats; idle or otherwise, since Akira felt she could take the hot-tempered flirt. Xever snarled; trying to seem threatening as he tended to do every once in a while, and she stuck out her tongue and made a face to mock the mean one he was making.

Xever sighed and rolled his eyes; finding his inability to intimidate her admirable yet a tad bit trying at times, before plucking up the two sets of pictures to look at them. He'd made sure to get two so Akira could have a copy and handed one to her to see; whether the other accepted them or not, at least he offered.

But to his surprise, the psychotic server took them and glanced them over before slipping it into her backpack. Xever couldn't help smirking as he quickly forgot about the sore spot on his forehead; turning his attention back to the string of pictures in his hand and his grin only grew.

They were mostly of the secret henchman hugging Akira like a child who didn't play well with others would their favorite toy, while he made funny faces and the brunette blushed and she either glared at him or stuck her tongue out at the camera in hopes of messing up his pictures.

Then there was one where Xever was making a kissy face at the psychotic server; mostly to mess with his Bela, as Aki tried to push his face away while she leaned as far back from him as his embrace allowed. Before the next one was of her suddenly pulling him forward and head butting him.

The ones that followed, which were the last three; were of Akira looking rather pleased up at him as he clutched his forehead in pain, Xever shooting her a glare as he snarled at her and she stuck out her tongue at him, and finally of Aki with her hand to her mouth as she giggled and the ravenet pouted.

All in all, a perfect set of shots as far as Xever was concerned; and he wasn't just talking about the pictures. "Heh, you know, we are of a _kind_, _you and I_." The former street urchin mused in smooth amusement, as he tucked away the photos in an inside pocket of his leather vest.

"Meaning?" Akira asked; her smirk fading slightly as she regarded him with a curious slight tilt of her head. "_Meaning_…" Xever repeated the word; leaning down enough to drape his arm lazily around her shoulders with a rather pleased look on his face as they were now eye to eye.

"That you and I, are simply two sides of the _same blade._" The ravenet elaborated with an almost dark certainty; emphasizing his meaning by skillfully flicking out one of his knives and caressing the teens cheek with the cool, smooth edge.

Aki quirked a skeptical brow; trying to suppress a slight shiver at the sudden chill of metal against her skin and the velvety rumble of the others words as the wiry youths breath ghosted over her lips.

"I think your hunger is making you delirious, Xever-san." Akira quipped dryly; though her voice was quieter than she had intended, but still thankfully as managing not to quaver any.

Despite her words, a small part of the brunette felt the curious crook had a point. But the foxy leader tried to push such thoughts to the back of her mind and dismiss them as the flirty eels silly attempt to get under Aki's skin; among _other _things the thief was trying to get his spidery fingers under.

Xever blinked at the comment and then laughed as he gave the other a half hug; having felt the other tremble ever so slightly and delighting in how he had been the cause of it, as it was obviously not in fear. "I very much _doubt_ that, Bela. Buuuuuut I think we've had enough fun here. Shall we go?" The smooth criminal smiled as he flipped the knife closed and put it away.

Akira gave a nod; still smirking some herself at her good work of bopping the smug eel one, and picked up the bag they'd set on the floor of the booth, before the two twisted terrors set back to collecting what Aki needed to make them a meal.

Though, when he noticed how a few people were ogling his foxy flor (flower), Xever had them pick up the pace; the brunette blushing a little and protesting a bit when the disgusted thief wrapped his arm around her possessively and steered her away without explanation.

They went to the 24/7 noodle shop, and Akira led him in through the back entrance to better tend to their groceries by washing what required it and so on, and to get what Aki needed from there to take out to the front; peeling off the arm Xever had draped around her shoulders so she could get things ready.

Since it was his meal, Akira had Xever help her clean and carry things out to the front. Not like the vivacious villain gave a damn though; even if he did pretend to grumble a little at how his Bela told him what to do. But the fact that he actually did it sorta gave the dark haired delinquent away.

Once at the front of the restaurant, Akira set to work cutting and cooking while Xever sat on a stool at the counter and watched her. It was quite mesmerizing the way the teen moved gracefully about and how adroitly Aki used a knife.

The ravenet tore his eyes away from the foxy teen and spared a glance around; assessing the damage of the place for the first time and noticing the marks and scuffs that were made by both sharp and blunt objects that were in the process of being covered, sanded and repainted.

There was some chairs and tables missing, which Xever suspected must've gotten too damaged to use. And so he surmised that some of the dishes probably needed replacing as well; which may have been the delay for the reopening as they would undoubtedly need to be ordered. Thankfully the stove area was still in working order.

He flipped out one of his butterfly knives and began playing with it; twirling and spinning it effortlessly in various ways as he waited for the meal to finish cooking. "So…_Akira_." Xever began a tad hesitantly as he regarded the brunette; not quite sure how to phrase what he was trying to ask.

Akira didn't bother glancing up from what she was doing, but the ravenet knew she was listening. "I see that you were not… _harmed _from our little game of 'catch the turtles'?" He asked carefully.

Xever had been wondering what had happened to his Bela after the turtles washed him off of the roof and he ended up unconscious for a while; only to wake up back at the infirmary at the headquarters of the Foot clan.

The teenager paused thoughtfully while she tried to think of how best to respond to that before she started moving again. "Hai (Yes). The kappas (turtles) saved me." She saw the ravenet frown slightly, before she told him what the word kappas meant, and thought it was a little comical at how Xever scowled jealously at that.

"_Of course _they did." The dark haired delinquent grumbled as his grip tightened on the handle of his knife. "If they did not, I could have been hurt." Akira reasoned curtly. "Nonsense! That rope was the-" The smooth criminal began to argue.

"The rope _snapped_ when the roof flooded." The brunette cut in coolly yet firmly. "Oh…" Xever frowned; rather stumped and taken aback by that. _'Droga (Damn) turtles!' _The secret henchman of the Shredder cursed in his head; mad at them for having taken so long to give up their stupid bluff.

If they had, he wouldn't have cut through the rope so much, and then Akira wouldn't have been put in danger like that! It was funny how the minds of people worked; most particularly those of unstable romantics like Xever or just crazies in general.

"They were very… polite, and did not do anything inappropriate, if that is why you are making that face." Akira assured him easily when she looked up to see the slender man glaring hard enough to burn a hole through her obaa-san's best wok.

Xever blinked as his train of thought was interrupted. He'd been thinking about how he planned to make the turtles suffer for pretty much every reason his twisted mind could come up with, but was at least relieved to hear his foxy flor (flower) had gone unmolested.

"Good. It's too bad they weren't considerate enough to let me _fillet_ them instead." The ravenet replied in a bit of a sinister hiss; still rather irked whenever he thought about those idiota turtles, and disliking how they even dared to touch Akira; even if it was to save her.

"Perhaps next time you should ask nicely." The brunette played lightly as she set two plates of food in front of him, before going to fetch her "customer" his usual beer from the refrigerator in the back and a can of fruit juice for herself.

In the meantime, Leonardo arrived at the 24/7 noodle shop to see that the sign read that it was temporarily closed for repairs. The blue banded turtle found this seemed odd, as the lights were on inside, and the sound of voices could be heard.

Hoping it wasn't Xever and his men skulking around to cause more problems for the lovely brunette and Murakami-san, Leo chose to investigate. He managed to catch a glimpse inside through a slit in the curtains; those alluring blue eyes widening to see that Akira was inside… and with Xever!

Oh no! Was Akira in trouble?! Was that lowlife fiend there to hurt her? Was he holding Akira-san against her will? All sorts of heinous ponderings flew threw the sweet turtles mind as he tried to figure out what was going on.

By the calm yet slightly irritated look on the dark haired teenagers face, it didn't seem Akira was afraid. But maybe she was just trying to be strong and mask it? _'Wow… she's __**so brave**__…' _Leo thought dreamily.

He gave himself a mental shake. This wasn't the time to be daydreaming. He needed to get Akira away from Xever! And so, when he saw Akira head to the back of the shop, the heroic terrapin quickly followed and tried to pick the lock to get in.

Apart from the laughter that ensued when she left the demented delinquent to go to the back, Aki heard an odd scratching sound when she reached the backroom, the psychotic server opened the door and was taken aback to see Leo staring up in equal surprise as he tried to pick the lock.

"Uh…" Was all Leo could manage. "Leonardo-san?! What are you doing here?" Akira asked in a hushed whisper; worried for the turtles safety rather than her own. The turtle hastily stood and tried to put on a heroic pose with his hands on his hips. "I'm here to save you." He whispered back with what he hoped was a charming smile.

But instead of looking relieved or even swooning like Leo had hoped, Akira just looked further alarmed. "Iie (No), Leonardo-san! You should not be here! You could get hurt." This just made the turtles smile widen; finding it sweet how the brunette was concerned about him instead of herself.

"I can handle Xever. I beat him yesterday, didn't I?" Leonardo asked a tad arrogantly. Akira crossed her arms and gave him an impatient look. "With the help of your brothers, yes. But you needn't worry. He is not here to harm me." She tried to assure; casting a quick and worried glance to the door to the front room.

This had the turtle quite flummoxed. "Wait… he isn't?" Akira shook her head. "Then… why IS Xever here?" The human sighed softly and shook her head. "He… seems to have taken a liking to me some time ago."

"H-he WHAT?!" Leo hissed incredulously; feeling a sudden mixture of anger, hate and jealousy swell within his chest that threw him for almost as much of a loop as finding out one of his enemies wasn't there to hurt anyone. Akira solemnly nodded. "Hai (Yes)… but I do not have time to explain it all to you now. You must go, my friend. Please!"

But her pleading only seemed to spur on the turtles desire to get her away from Xever. Although, now that he knew the criminal fancied the brunette, Leo had quite a few selfish reasons as well as selfless for wanting to get Akira as far from the creep as possible.

"No. I won't leave you here! Not with _him_!" The blue banded turtle told the human steadfastly; those brilliant blues narrowing a tad more darkly then they probably should've at the word "him". The secret ninja felt like sighing again at the kappas stubbornness, when a plan came to mind.

"Very well… But I promised him earlier that I would dine with him, so you-" Akira began, but the turtle gawked at her in disbelief. "How-?!" Leo began a tad too loudly; causing the human to clamp a hand over his mouth and shoot him a disapproving frown that made him sweat drop and smile apologetically.

When she pulled the hand away, the turtle took a steadying moment and began whispering again. "How the heck did he get you to do that?" The teen shook her head; finding the kappas desire to see her safe endearing yet a bit irksome in how Leo went about it; like she couldn't take care of herself.

"Later. If you really wish me to leave, then so be it. All you need to do is wait outside until I fulfill my part of the bargain. Then, I shall try to make an excuse to leave." Akira told him just as firmly; trying to make a compromise in the difficult situation.

But when Leonardo opened up his mouth to protest, he found himself blushing lightly as Akira pressed a finger to his lips and gave him a warning look that the ninja turtle found dangerously attractive…

"I will argue no further. Now go, Leonardo-san. Please." Aki thought to add the please at the end and soften her expression into a small smile; hardly ever one to forget how persuasive good manners were.

Leo paused, then nodded hesitantly and left the way he'd come. Akira sighed and shook her head as she went to fetch Xever and herself something to drink. This day was proving to be far more complicated as it went on, the brunette thought as she sighed softly.

Akira could hear the master thief still having a good, lighthearted laugh from what she had said earlier, all the way from the backroom until she returned to the front and handed Xever his drink. The ravenet had moved to the table with both plates and was waiting for her as his laughter subsided.

"Ah, obrigado (thanks), Bela. I needed that." Xever thanked as he wiped at his eye; having had himself a rather good laugh and feeling much better. "Doo itashimashite (You're welcome), Xever-san." Akira replied in kind.

"What took you so long?" He asked nonchalantly while relaxing back against his seat, before taking a swig of his beer; having known the psychotic server to be quite light on her feet. "A friend of mine contacted me, requesting my assistance with some matter of import to them." Well, it wasn't technically a lie at least.

"Oh? And precisely what would this _matter_ be?" Xever lazily swirled the amber bottle around between his fingers; disliking anyone who would dare spoil his time with _his_ Bela.

"I asked, but they did not say. I suspect it was too personal to say over the phone, and did not wish to be rude by prying further." The curious criminal gave a small, displeased hum at the others slick and even response.

"So I take it, you will be leaving here to go and help your _friend_?" The amount of poison at the word "friend" almost made Akira feel bad. _Almost_ anyway… More like a little disconcerted. "Hai (Yes). I told them I would when I was done, as I was currently engaged in dining with someone."

Akira's answer did manage to bolster the secret henchman's spirits some, as the teen hadn't called him a "friend" or something like that. Of course the "someone" was a bit ambiguous, but it was better than being lobbed in as a "friend".

The idea of being thought of as simply another friend wasn't something that sat well with the passionate Brazilian. And so, he said no more on the subject; hoping perhaps that while they dined or afterwards, that he might find a way to convince his flor bela (beautiful flower) to remain in his company instead.

The brunette pressed her hands together and said a brief "Ittadakimasu (Let's eat)."; snapping her chopsticks apart and proceeding to eat in that delicate and well-mannered way as she had been taught.

The ravenet indulged in the others culture and copied her; smiling when he saw it earned him a small smirk and a raised eyebrow. Xever closed his eyes and hummed as he took a bite of the dish Akira had prepared specially for him, before telling her how much he liked it.

The polite petite thanked him and listened as Xever began to chatter cheerfully, as he tended to do quite often when he was with his quiet querida (darling). Xever quite enjoyed talking, to the point that Akira was sure the man liked the sound of his own voice.

But as the psychotic server was more the quiet and listener type, the smooth criminal appreciated and took advantage of such an opportunity whenever he could, and would prattle on about anything and everything he felt like; whether he thought Akira was listening or not.

Though he did like it best when Akira was, since no one really liked to be ignored. But the brunette was bafflingly well-mannered and amiable so long as Xever didn't do or say anything to make her otherwise, and so Aki indulged him. Besides, it didn't physically cause her harm and it kept him from hassling her grandfather.

It's not like Xever would ever like the turtles, as Akira figured that since the ravenet would probably see the turtles as his enemies no matter what, that it was wise not to try and make him or else he might become the young Murakami's enemy as well. Which just didn't bode well when one was trying to keep a low profile.

They ate their meal together without much incident. The only minor one being when Xever kept trying to feed her some of his food, even though they were eating the same thing, because he thought it might be _more romantic_, and Akira threatened to lobotomize the curious crook with one of her chopsticks.

But those lovely little threats amused Xever, for he liked it when his Bela got all violently warped and _feisty_; whether Aki was threatening him, or like the other day when she tried to bite his finger when the ravenet had poked at her cheek.

Akira did her best to speed things along, but Xever was enjoying himself, and the teen knew that if she tried to rush things it might offend the other and cause unwanted hostility.

And if there's one thing she knew, it wouldn't bode well to make Xever angry with her right now. If she did, then the kappa might try to jump in to save her, regardless of the fact she could handle the ravenet.

And well, explaining why one of the mutant turtles was hanging around ready to defend her might prove to be more trouble than it was worth, of that the brunette was certain. So, she did her best to hope that Leonardo-san wouldn't become impatient and barge in to complicate things further.

It wasn't really all that easy for the noble ninja turtle to wait the way he had to. But even Leo understood it would only get Akira into further trouble if he just popped up while she was with Xever.

If the blue banded turtles enemies thought that he was friends with the brunette and her grandfather, there was no telling what sort of unsavory actions they might taken upon the foxy angel and her family. And Leo didn't want to be the cause of it.

After they ate, and he finished his second beer, tall, dark and demented offered to see Akira safely home when they exited the noodle shop; slinking his arm around the teens shoulders as soon as the brunette locked up the 24/7, and making Leonardo glare heatedly when he saw it from his perch on the rooftop across from the shop.

"Apologies, Xever-san. But I told you earlier, I agreed to meet my friend once we finished dining." Akira chided ever so lightly as she slipped out from underneath of the ravenets arm. "And you of all people should know I keep my word."

Xever scowled and scoffed as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Why did his querida raposa (dear fox) have to be so… so reliable? He sighed inwardly; knowing it was one of the admirable qualities that drew him to the brunette, but disliking it for the time being as it meant they had to part ways.

"Are you certain you have to go, minha flor bela (my beautiful flower)?" Xever swiftly stepped up to the other and reached out to take each of her smaller hands in larger ones covered with black fingerless gloves; those long, dexterous fingers curling effortlessly and somewhat possessively around the others hands.

The overly familiar action made Leo glower as his grip on the roof ledge tightened. That creep needed to get his hands off of Akira, and soon. Leo was sure the sweet and innocent teen disliked the eels persistent advances by the way she tried to politely outmaneuver them. At least, he hoped that was the case.

And the turtle couldn't help admiring how the brunette was able to maintain herself, despite how it must be so scary to be dealing with a ruthless cutthroat like Xever and having him trying to paw at her like that. "Ahh… what a girl…" Leo sighed quietly to himself; wishing he could swoop in and rescue her.

"Hai (Yes), Xever-san. But you needn't worry. I am sure the shop will be open soon." Akira assured curtly, as she took a step back and slid her hands from the others grasp to bid him goodbye in the usual way, and then turned to leave after Xever replied in kind.

"Adeus, minha doce flor! (Goodbye, my sweet flower!)" The smooth criminal called cheekily yet sweetly after Akira; chuckling some at how the teen quickened her pace and having a good inkling that he probably made her blush. However, Xever gave a pouting frown as he watched the slender silhouette of the psychotic server vanish from sight around a corner.

Feeling something poking at his chest, Xever curiously reached into the inside pocket of his vest; his fingers touching the photos from the photo booth earlier. He smirked impishly as he recalled how much fun he'd ended up having despite their departure for the day.

And as Xever turned and made his way down the opposite way with his mood brightened once more because of Akira, he slid his hands into his pants pockets and strolled off toward his own place while humming some smooth, upbeat tune that popped into his head.

As the ravenet continued down the street, he spared a glance over his shoulder at the where Akira had disappeared, before he smirked and continued on his way; thinking that even though the Shredder wasn't very pleased with him, that for Xever, things were beginning to look up…

Meanwhile, Leonardo melted out of the shadows of an alleyway once he was sure Akira wasn't being followed by that creepy eel; causing the brunette to blink in slight surprise, as she was wondering where the turtle had gotten to.

"Sorry… Didn't mean to frighten you, Akira-san." Leo rubbed his forearm as he sweat dropped a little and smiled sheepishly. "Do not worry. You merely surprised me is all." The foxy human replied with a small, assuring smile.

The turtle visibly brightened and straightened up. "So, um… shall I escort you home then?" The blue banded terrapin wasn't quite sure what to do now that he had Akira away from that slimy scumbag; not having thought that far ahead.

The secret Guardian in training considered. It would be late in the evening soon, but there was still some time left to have a little bit of fun if they hurried. "I think we could make a detour, _if _you are up for it, Leonardo-san?" The teen asked in a lightly playful way that made the turtle feel all tingly and excited.

"I don't know… I should probably get you home." He replied a tad hesitantly; wanting to oblige the other and spend more time with the human, but wanting to make sure Aki was seen home safe and sound where that Xever creep couldn't bother her.

"It will not take long." And without waiting to argue the matter further, Akira scaled up onto a trash can and grabbed ahold of the fire escape to the rooftop. Leonardo was a bit at a loss how to react, but chose to follow the human; telling himself it was only to see her securely to wherever it was Akira was going like the hero he was.

As they traveled by rooftop, Leo was quick to note the other kept up surprisingly well, much like their mutual friend Jenny. "Okay, so I know Jenny comes from an athletic family and all, but how come you're so good at this?" Leo found himself inquiring out loud.

"My obaa-san (grandfather) may run a noodle shop, Leonardo-san, but the rest of my family that reside here have a dojo, and have run dojos in both Korean and Japan for many generations." Akira elaborated eloquently. "Oh… wow! Really!?" Leo couldn't help but take an instant interest.

No wonder Akira was such a good fighter, he reasoned. It must be where Jenny picked up what she knew too; seeing as the two teens had grown up together and all. "So, have you ever been to Japan or is your accent just something you picked up from your folks?"

Leo was finding it a little easier to be around the teen now that they had some conversation to distract him from how cute the other was. Plus, having to focus on where they were going also helped. "A bit of both I think… We moved here when I was very young, so I do not remember very much of it."

"Oh, okay." Leo replied. "How about you? You speak the language rather well. Do you hail from Japan too, Leonardo-san?" The turtle felt his breath hitch a little; finding the gentle, breathy way Akira said his name to be rather charmingly exotic.

"No, I grew up here. But my sensei is, er, _was_ from Japan. He taught me and my brothers." Catching the note of somberness to the "was" part and how the turtle frowned so sadly at the memory of the pain his sensei had gone through, Akira took the hint it probably wasn't a cheery topic. "I see… So, I see you favor a pair of katana to simply the one?"

"Oh, um, yeah. I can fight with one, but-" He began, but was surprised to find the other agreeing with him. "But two is better." Akira more stated than asked, and Leo gave her a curious look.

"I was able to catch some of the fight. It was easy to see you proved that statement true." The teen elaborated, and Leonardo smiled and blushed. Heh, if he kept getting praise like that, Leo felt rather tempted to start showing off his awesome sword skills. Wait, no. That might make him seem like he was trying too hard like Donnie or maybe like an arrogant jerk like Xever and his stupid knives…

Leo quickly shook the notion off, and had been about to try and come up with something else to ask, when Akira announced they had arrived. Very carefully, Aki led the kind kappa to the roof of a curious looking building that had a huge skylight that encompassed most of the roof.

Upon looking down where she smilingly pointed, did Leo see that it was because they were at an aquarium; or more precisely above one. And below them was an array of all manner of sea life in large tanks which could be viewed from whichever angle they moved to.

"Whoa…!" Leonardo gasped in awe. The fish and creatures were all so colorful! "Agreed…" Aki replied in much the same tone; catching the turtles attention. He was surprised to see how the sight seemed to light the human up.

The shimmering illuminated water below reflecting in those deep blue-green eyes and making Leo think that must be how the sea looked, and thinking he'd rather gaze at those eyes instead of some silly body of water if he had the option.

"So… um… how come you wanted to come here, Akira-san?" The turtle asked after realizing he'd been staring at the other for a few minutes. "Aquatic life are very… calming and beautiful. Do you not agree?" Aki kept on watching the fish swimming around below; her smile widening at seeing a little family of sea turtles communing together. "Yeah… definitely." Leo breathed somewhat dreamily.

Upon the curious look the human gave him, Leo started and cleared his throat as he tried not to blush. "I mean, yes, I agree." Akira held her hand up to her lips as she giggled, and the turtle felt the mood lighten. And so the two just moved about looking at all the variety of sea creatures after that.

Akira would point out certain ones and tell Leonardo about it, which in turn, had him asking about ones he spotted, so that the brunette would edify him. Though, in truth, he mostly just asked because he loved to hear the sweet server speaking and also because he liked the fact that Aki was speaking to him in general.

All in all, they both had a rather lovely time, before Akira saw what time it was and said she had better head home before her family worried about her. Leo was rather disappointed, but perked right up when Aki asked if perhaps they could do this again some time, which the heroic turtle was more than happy to agree to if it meant getting to spend more time with Akira-san.

On the way to the apartment building where Akira lived, the two of them spoke a bit about the fight with the Purple Dragons at the 24/7 the other night, and Aki explained why the shop was temporarily closed, which led to them talking about martial arts and swords, and things like that.

They even got on the subject of "Space Heroes", when Akira recognized a line the noble ninja turtle was quoting. The two had an adorable little moment where they fanned about it, before each having to clear their throats and compose themselves. But that still didn't mean they didn't even up laughing and talking about it anyway.

Leonardo couldn't help feeling they had a lot in common by the time they were a couple blocks from where Aki lived. "Wow! We're a lot like, huh, Akira-san?" Oh man, he really loved saying her name.

'_Akira-san, Akira-san, Akiraaaaa-saaaaan!' _The turtle repeated in a gushingly singsong sort of way in his head. "It would seem so, yes." The brunette agreed coolly; being a tad reminded of what Xever had said earlier, and finding it a little curious.

"Heh, yeah! I mean, we both love martial arts, and swords, and "Space Heroes", and Japanese food, and um… OH! And fish! Er-I mean, the ones in the aquarium, not the ones you eat. Although, I guess those are good too." Leonardo rambled; his feelings trying to run away with his mouth but not really knowing which way to go.

Geez, no wonder Donnie could get carried away when it came to April. He'd have to make a note to himself to try not to tease his younger brother so much for it in the future. Well, at least try to anyway.

Akira quirked an eyebrow. "We get along like two sides of the same blade, is that what you are saying, Leonardo-san?" Yeah, it was a little disturbing how this topic had come up again in the psychotic servers opinion.

"Exactly! Er-that is to say… That's a pretty cool way to put it." Leo finished a tad lamely; not wanting to seem overexcited as he knew how weird that looked when Donnie did it. And he did NOT want Akira thinking he was a creepy geek.

Akira sighed softly. "Um… did I say something wrong?" The turtle asked; feeling his stomach twist uncomfortably at the slightly irritated way that sigh had sounded. "Iie (No)… I know you meant well. It just reminded me of something Xever-san had told me earlier today." She answered while glancing over to the side.

Well that certainly didn't sit well with the blue banded turtle, but it did make him recall something that had been sort of bugging him all evening. At least, ever since the incident at the 24/7.

"Hey, Akira-san… I know it's none of my business, but… why was Xever alone at Murakami-san's restaurant with you? You never did explain." Leo felt rather nosy for asking, and ended up doing so a bit timidly, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't like the idea of the brunette being alone with a cad like that creep.

Akira frowned slightly; not really sure she should say why. "I was swimming in the pool after school, when Xever-san found me and-" But her explanation was cut short by the shocked turtles outburst. "He knows where you go to school?!"

"Hai (Yes)… Unfortunately. I do not know how or for what purpose he does, besides perhaps knowing it irks me. It seems to be a favorite past time of his to try and irritate me." The brunette replied in a slightly irked and musing manner.

"Ugh… That's so… creepy!" The turtle made a face; being reminded of how creepy Donatello's flowchart had been and then feeling that level of creep factor being multiplied by a few hundred.

'_Poor Akira-san… she's so brave to be able to put up with that dirt bag. I wish she didn't have to though.' _The noble turtle thought sympathetically, as Aki continued speaking.

"As I was saying, I had been swimming when he showed up to bug me with his whining about being hungry and how he wanted me to make him something. I wanted to swim, and the only way I could get him to leave me alone was to make a deal that I get a few more laps if I dined with him."

"Ooooh… so that's what you meant. Why didn't you just tell him to buzz off?" Akira sighed knowingly and shook her head slightly. "That… does not work, I'm afraid. Not with someone like him. You either make a deal, or he becomes violent, starts threatening my grandfather, or both. I do not have much choice in the matter, you see." The teen told him rather solemnly.

Leonardo stared; not having realized just what kind of messed up situation the sweet server was in with that knife wielding psychopath. But he was beginning to glean just what kind of twisted sicko Xever really was, and he didn't like it.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know, Akira-san." The turtle replied in gentle apology. "Do not apologize, my friend. How could you know?" Aki assured kindly. "It is a rather delicate situation, but I have handled it so far, and for the sake of my grandfather, shall continue to do so until another solution can be found." The teen told the turtle in a firm and confident manner.

Leonardo was impressed by the others steadfast attitude to say the least, and couldn't help returning the smile the brunette shone his way. Akira changed the subject to something non-Xever related, which the turtle didn't mind at all, and continued to do so until they reached about a block from where the secret ninja lived.

"This is where we must part ways. My home is not far from here." Akira told the turtle affably. "A-are you sure? I don't mind going further." Leo countered; determined to see the foxy youth all the way there.

"I am sure. Arigato gozaimasu (Thank you very much), for seeing me home like this. It was very kind of you to do." Leonardo felt his heart swell at the compliment and he ended up turning on his heroic voice without thinking. "Think nothing of it, Akira-san. I was happy to be of service."

Akira giggled again; wondering why the turtle spoke like some kind of cartoon hero but finding it rather endearing. "Well, I am certainly lucky to have met you then." The human told him with all sincerity. Leo blinked and beamed. "Really?" He blurted in hopeful disbelief.

Akira stepped in front of him, and took one of those large green hands in-between her two smaller ones, and held it appreciatively like Leo had seen fair maidens do in comic books and in movies; his face flaring up at the very thought and only growing darker with the feel of Akira's soft, warm hands against his slightly rough ones where the wrapping did not cover them.

"Hai (Yes), Leonardo-san, for you are my friend and have thus far been a most dear one." The foxy teen replied in that sweet and gentle tone of hers. She took a small step closer, and the terrapin felt his breath hitch.

Akira couldn't help feeling rather appreciative for the turtles kindness and feeling bad she'd helped Xever. Leonardo-san's sweet and trusting nature was such a rare and delicate thing, and yet here he was trying to look out for the secret ninja… It was, oddly touching and she didn't want to ruin it as she was enjoying their budding friendship.

"Though I am little more than a stranger, you have saved me and looked out for my wellbeing; all when you did not have to. For that, I will always be grateful and will work hard to show you the same consideration." Akira told him; a determined edge to her tone as she gave his hand a tender squeeze as if to help emphasis that she meant it.

"Akira-san…" The heroic turtle breathed quietly as he began to ever so slowly lean in; incredibly taken aback by such a heartwarming show of sincerity that he felt rather overwhelmed by it as she stared deeply up into his eyes.

But then, Leo's shyness got the better of him and he abruptly pulled back and burst out into a small fit of nervous laughter; taking the brunette by surprise and hurting her feelings a little as she wondered why the kappa had behaved so strangely.

Realizing his error, Leonardo tried to make up for it by removing the hand Aki had been holding and reaching up to give the other a pat on the head for some unknown reason; feeling like he was messing up the more he forced himself to act against what he really felt like doing and wondering why he wasn't.

"Hahahah, oh c'mon now. There's so reason to be so serious. Helping people's what I do!" Leo tried to say in a bright and heroic way as he gestured to himself with a thumb; totally self-sabotaging the touching and possibly almost romantic moment they'd been having and inwardly berating himself for it.

'_Ah sewer apples! I'm such a shell brain! Why couldn't I have just kept my mouth shut and played the more humble hero instead of the one with the goofy laugh?! GAH! Stupid! STUPID!' _The blue banded basket case thought while mentally smacking his head against an imaginary wall and wishing it were a real one at the puzzled look the cute human was giving him.

"I… better get home. Goodnight, Akira-san." Leo told her quickly; his face more red than green at this point as he tried to melt back into the shadows to hide it as fast as he could, before vanishing from sight.

The foxy teen stood there; a little taken aback by the others erratic behavior before she giggled. "Goodnight, Leonardo-san." Akira bayed gently to the night air, though she doubted the turtle stayed long enough to hear her. Aki stood there a moment and then turned to head for home.

Today had been quite an eventful one indeed, the brunette thought amusedly, while feeding the pet Betta fish she had in a small tank on the desk in her room after having gotten home without incident. It was a type of Siamese fighting fish, and so beautiful in coloration.

It was a male with red and purple coloration and hints of blue, with a veil tail that looked so pretty as it swam about. Akira stuck her hand into the tank and let the fish curl up there in the warmth it offered for a short while; smiling at how the feathery fins tickled her hand.

Due to her love of swimming and how her marine biologist of a mother used to take her to the ocean or an aquarium and the like whenever they had the chance so many years ago, Akira developed a liking for aquatic life. Whether it was fish or turtles, she thought they were adorable.

And after she got ready for bed, she took the strip of pictures Xever had given her and put it into the draw of her desk and lying down on her mattress. The young Murakami couldn't help smiling fondly as she replayed the earlier events of the evening between her and a certain kind kappa; her thoughts trailing off on a pleasant note as sleep befell the foxy teen.

Leonardo had been hiding in the shadows trying to resist the urge to smack himself in the forehead, when he heard the others melodious giggle and bay of goodnight. While it did cheer him up a little, Leo was seriously hoping Aki hadn't thought he was a total nerd with the way he had behaved.

After making sure to stealthily make sure the sweet server got home okay and taking a few minutes to watch her play with the little fish, Leonardo did a quick sweep around the area to make sure Xever wasn't anywhere around, before heading back to the lair in a rather pleased mood that not even Raph could spoil.

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><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**So the title was based upon a similar title of one of my "Supernatural" fics, and also inspired by something Xever actually says on the cartoon about "being of a kind", so I rolled with it and ended up with this chapter. LoL **

**I'm familiar with how various types of psychos and socios mindsets work, as I've seen and read about various kinds, and I've yet to see one that genuinely takes responsibility for anything, and therefore neither do characters like Xever, Shredder or Bradford. And like ninjas, they're natural stalkers. I mean, REAL ninjas from history never followed any code of honor, it was just who they were working for/getting paid by who wasn't the emperor. Ninjas stalk/follow/hunt, murder/kill/assassinate, steal, and pretty much all sorts of fun things like that which they only show the bad guys doing (to an extent). LoL So yeah. When I write ninjas, I try to keep it real, while at the same time keeping the turtles cute while I let my OC's behave more like real ninjas or as close as I can get within the realm of this adorable and awesome cartoon. ^_^ **

**Also Happy 2015 everyone! LoL **


	25. The Gauntlet

**Disclaimer: Ch. 1**

**Author's Note(s): Okay, so just remember that depending on the episodes, lots of time typically passes between most of them. In one comic I read for "TMNT: New Animated Adventures" Leo took a whole month to plan a particular training contest to prove who was the number one turtle. LoL So they've had a lot of bonding time with Jenny to an extent, as they have with April and some of my other OC's depending on the turtle and the OC. In other words, it may not seem like it, but time does pass in the cartoon and my fic. X3 **

**Remember to leave a nice review to show your love and support, or just wanna say which pairing you love the most in this fic, feel free. Either of these is always appreciated. ^_^**

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><p><strong>"The Gauntlet"<strong>

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><p>April was walking down the street, minding her own business. Just out and about, when the sound of something swooping down awfully close and a shadow flying over her path caught her attention; putting her on edge and causing her to stop what she was doing on her cell phone to look around.<p>

At first, she thought it was just her imagination, and that maybe she was just being paranoid. But then, it happened again! She yelped and then gave a panicked gasp when something popped up from a rooftop to screech at her.

April took off running; turning the corner sharply and just barely felt the creature whoosh by her. She ran into a bank with a glass front, panting as and feeling her heart was about to burst from her chest with fright, as she spun around to see if whatever it had been was still after her.

There was a pause, and a sense of relief began to wash over April as she sighed. But then she saw the shadow again, and then... BAM! A mutant pigeon hit the glass, making the scream that had been on the verge of wailing out halt at the rather ridiculous display of the beastly thing plastered on the window as it gave a squeaky groan and thwacked on the ground.

She went out to see if it was okay, feeling kind of bad for the mutant bird, but then it popped up, eyed her and took off. As she gazed up at it with a disturbed look on her face and hugged herself, she couldn't help but voice her disconcertion aloud. "My life has gotten _really_ weird..."

And with that, April went back into the bank where she knew she'd be safe and sent a text to Jenny letting her know what had happened; seeing as it was still daylight out and she felt like she needed someone with her that she could trust as that pigeon thing really freaked her out.

Back at the lair, Raph and Leo were sparring, when their tallest brother called them over. "Check it out guys!" Donnie said excitedly as he came into the dojo holding a handful of white things that looked like eggs. "We are about to take our ninjutsu to a whole new level!"

"Cool!" Leo said; using the distraction to foot sweep his red banded bro off his feet, and smirking as the turtle groaned and fell flat on his shell. Donnie spared Raph a look before he continued on to tell them all about his new invention on an old trick.

"Last night, I figured out how to make ninja smoke bombs!" The brainy turtle shouted; being all psyched about it since he and Jenny worked hard on making and perfecting them for a while, and last night Donnie had finally finished the last of the batch on his own; since Jen had to go home.

It took him a while without her there to remind him, but after a few tries, he'd gotten the tiring process just right! He'd have to remember to tell Jen later, Don mused unconsciously to himself in his excitement.

To better show his bros what he was talking about, Donatello tossed one down and POOF! He was gone in a puff of purple-blue and black smoke; only to reappear grinning like a Cheshire cat behind his brothers, who all stared in wide eyed amazement. "Whooooa!" Both brothers gasped in mutual awe.

"Now, to make them, I carefully drill two holes in an eggshell without cracking it, slowly blow out the contents, wait for the inside to dry, then pour in flash powder and seal both holes with wax." Donatello edified expertly; remembering how the redhead had explained it to him and feeling rather proud about it.

"Blah, blah, science blah." Raph mocked coolly as he made a mouth puppet with his hand. "Do it again!" Donnie frowned. "What I'm trying to tell you guys is, they take a looooong time to make, so use them sparingly." He warned; though he may have had Jenny to help him as she had offered to do, it was still a pain to make them.

"I'm makin' breakfast!" Michelangelo called in a singsong way from the kitchen; making Donnie's eyes grow large with alarm. "Who wants omelets?" There was a pause before what the youngest had said fully smacked Don over the head. "Omelets?!" Donnie gasped to himself as he looked at one of his eggs and then recalled where he was keeping... oh no!

"Mikey, don't!" The brainy turtle cried, but it was too late, and a loud poof was heard going off and coughing could be heard as their youngest brother appeared in a puff of colorful smoke in the archway; holding the bowl of egg smoke bombs. "Uh, I think that egg was rotten." A somewhat singed Mikey coughed out.

"Those aren't eggs, Mikey. They're ninja smoke bombs." Donatello reprimanded with his hands on his hips, while Leo laughed so hard he had to grab onto Raph for support. Okay, that MAY have not been the right thing to have said, as they saw Mikey's eyes grow big like an uber happy puppy's.

"Shut up." The bubbly turtle breathed in disbelief as he grinned widely, before grabbing one and poofing up into the tree. "This is the best day of my life!" Mikey said; emphasizing almost each word with a colorful puff of smoke as he ninja'd around the dojo.

"Mikey, stop!" Donnie shrieked in frustration. Man! It'd taken him and Jen HOURS to make all those! Michelangelo paused with a considering look on his face as he leaned coolly against the tree; an egg snuggly between his two fingers, before he tossed it down and popped up behind his tallest and VERY irked sibling to place his hands on the others shoulders.

"I love you, man. Seriously!" Michelangelo praised in that well-meaning way of his; giving Donnie a cheek nuzzle and a brotherly smooch that just ticked off Donnie even more.

"Guys!" Thankfully for Mikey, before Donnie could retaliate, April called from the other room; running toward them in a panic like she'd just seen a scary beast; which technically, she had.

She had hurried along, having practically dragged a blindfolded Jenny with her and leaving the poor redhead to fend for herself near the entrance, and nearly tumbling over the turnstile as the Jen tried to slow down from the way April had been pulling her along like a rag doll, while the redette tugged the bandana down with dizzy anime swirls in her eyes.

"Guys, you'll never believe what happened to me." April exclaimed breathlessly as she slowed down near the turtles. "I think I'm gonna hurl…" Jen muttered in slight irritation as she placed a hand against the pinball machine and leaned against it as Raph went to go see if his fellow Red was alright.

"You okay, Red?" The red banded turtle inquired as he tried not to chuckle at how comical Jenny looked hugging the retro gaming device and groaned in response as she buried her face in her arm.

Between the gingers frantic chatter about being almost attacked by a mutant pigeon that had gone on and ON since meeting up with her at that bank, and how wildly she'd been jerked around by the shorter teen, Jenny felt like a headache might be coming on to make the slight nausea even worse.

Raph gave Jen a consoling pat on the shoulder and shook his head with a small smirk as he turned to see what was going on with the freaked out ginger. "All right, April, calm down. Are you okay?" Donnie asked as he hurried over to comfort the ginger haired angel rather than the redhead.

Though he did note with a slight frown at how quickly Raphael had gone to help Jen, and found it irritated him just a little for some reason. But he tried to shrug that off and tend to April instead. "I am being hunted. By a giant pigeon!" April told them; but to the four turtles it sounded more melodramatic than dead serious and scared.

In fact, Raph actually ended up laughing because he didn't think she was serious. But when his brothers shot him mutual disapproving looks, he stopped and frowned. Thankfully Jen was still recuperating and hadn't much the desire to look up just yet. "I can't be the only one who finds that funny." The red banded ninja more stated than asked bemusedly.

"It's not funny, Raph. There's a creature out there trying to hurt my April." Donatello scolded; telling himself that he was supposed to be upset that April was upset. The ginger shot him a look which made Donnie correct himself, and even Jenny glanced up with a curious brow raised at that.

"_Our_ April... April." Don grinned sheepishly while correcting himself quickly as he gestured to the girl in question; who went back to looking upset. Jenny came over and sat down beside the distraught ginger, if only for moral support.

Besides, she was the only one who actually believed April had been harassed by a pigeon mutant, as frankly, Jen had seen much freakier stuff than that. Besides, April wasn't the type to make up crazy stuff like that. So to her, it seemed plausible enough to investigate.

Needing comfort from a friend, the ginger turned and threw her arms around Jenny's torso and hugged her; catching the redhead by slight surprise as she hesitated for a small second, before she reached up to pat the other on the back with one hand and pet the top of April's head with the other as the big sister figure made small shushing sounds.

The purple turtles jaw dropped at the sight, before steam came off his head as he glowered heatedly at the redhead for being the one April sought comfort from. Jenny gave him an apologetic look and a small shrug; figuring Donnie might just be jealous he wasn't the one getting a hug.

It wasn't like she made April seek her out all the time or that she just gave off that protective sisterly vibe. It just happened, and it wasn't very fair that Donnie blamed her for what April did or didn't do all the time. Or whatever it was that irked the turtle.

"This is serious. I'd better get Splinter." Mikey declared somberly before using a smoke bomb and disappearing. "We don't really need-" Leo began, but in an instant later, as the smoke cleared from where Mikey stood, Master Splinter now resided all awesomely. "Michelangelo said you wanted to see me?" Splinter inquired smoothly.

So, as she sat closely next to Jenny (or too closely in Donatello's opinion), and the turtles and their sensei crowded around her, April told them about what had happened to her earlier with the pigeon. "His talons were razor sharp! He would have torn me to pieces if he hadn't slammed into the glass."

Raphael busted out laughing again, before his brothers, and even Jenny shot him a disapproving look. "Really? Just me?" Raph groaned as he was suddenly smacked upside the head by Splinter's cane.

"Raphael! Clearly April is upset." His father figure chided. "Yeah, dude, that's so insensitive." Mikey chimed in just as chastising, before he turned sweetly to April. "Do you need a tissue?" April thought it was a nice offer, but told him "I think I'm okay."

"I'll get you a tissue." Mikey said; mostly wanting an excuse to use the awesome smoke bombs again and poofing away. Making April gasp and Jenny snicker as Mikey popped up behind the redhead on April's other side.

"We don't have any tissues. Can I make you some soup?" The mischievous turtle asked with a smile as he held up another egg bomb. "Stop it!" Donnie cried in irritation as he stood up and grabbed the egg from his annoying little brother. "Don't worry, April, we won't let anything happen to you." Don assured as he turned back to her.

"Donnie's right. We're gonna set a trap for this pigeon man and make sure he never bothers you again." Leonardo concurred; happy for any chance to go on a mission and be all heroic. That way he'd have something to tell Akira about the next time he went to visit her at the 24/7.

"Well, I know what we can use as bait." Donatello voiced before Mikey cut in. "Bread crumbs!" But Mikey paused and looked thoughtful at the look they shot him. "Pigeons eat bread crumbs." He reasoned; wondering why they were looking at him like he was stupid. He really hated that.

"I meant April." Donnie clarified; hands on his hips. "You're gonna let him eat April?! I thought you liked her!" The youngest turtle shouted in outrage and confusion as he put himself between his brothers and April in a protective manner that Jenny thought was sweet, even though the redette had an idea of what Donnie meant.

"Yeah!" April said as she peered over Mikey's arm; wondering why Donatello was so quick to toss her to the pigeon monster and wondering if it had anything to do with her still having refused to accept his MyFace friend request. Geez! Talk about holding a grudge...

"Don't sweat it. We've got your back." Donnie held up his hands to show he meant no harm as he spoke. "All right, Mighty Mutants, let's do this!" Leo stated all heroically; his voice a little deeper as he struck a pose.

"'Mighty Mutants'? What, 'Dancing Dorks' was already taken?" Raph harped; wondering why their eldest brother had to be such an otaku for that "Space Heroes" show. Leo pouted and Jen covered her mouth to stifle a snicker at the remark. "Wait!" Splinter shouted; halting them as they all made to leave.

"We do not yet know what you are facing. Perhaps you should study your enemy before confronting him." Splinter advised; unfortunately, the only one to even bother considering his advice was Jenny, as assessing the situation and those in it was something she took to heart. "With all due respect, Sensei, it's a _pigeon_." Leo said more than a tad arrogantly.

"What you know is dangerous to your enemy." Splinter began. "What you think you know is dangerous to _you_." Jenny finished before she could think better of it; as it was one of the many sagely things that Haruhi-sensei reminded them of often. After all, it was the job of a good mentor.

Splinter regarded the redette in surprise, as Jenny realized her slip and quickly looked away as her cheeks flushed pink and she ran a hand through her hair. The turtles thought it was a bit odd, since hardly any of them ever seemed to follow Splinter's line of thought, much less what he quoted. But the rat master shrugged it off and turned back to his eldest son to continue what he was saying. "I fear you are all becoming overconfident."

"Sensei, in the past few months, we've taken down giant spiders,-" Leonardo began overconfidently. "Wasn't it just one giant spider?" Jenny mused aloud; glancing at Raph curiously and then Leo. "-plant creatures,-" Leo tried to go on and pretend he hadn't heard the human.

"Pretty sure it was just one." Jen stated with certainty as Leo shot her a pouting glare. "-alien robots and an army of ninjas." Leo managed to finish as he tried to ignore the redheads outburst of corrections; shooting her a look to dare her to correct that, but the boffin just gave a shrug and smirked. Figuring she'd let the turtle have that one. Even if it wasn't technically an army by general standards.

"Maybe we're not overconfident. Maybe we're just that good." The blue banded turtle grinned before he and his cocky brothers took off with April. But Jenny hung back a moment as Splinter grumbled at his sons dangerous behavior and gave him an understanding look; seeing as Casey could be much the same way once he set his mind to something.

"I'll try to keep them out of trouble, Splinter-san. I mean, I can't make any promises, but…" Jen placed her hand lightly on the tall mutants shoulder in a gesture of assurance. "I'll try to bring them back in one piece at least..." She offered sympathetically. Splinter's eyes softened as he looked down at the mature behaving redhead, who clearly cared for his sons and gave a curt nod. "Thank you, Jenny."

Jen smiled some and gave him a quick bow, before hurrying off to catch up with April who was waiting just outside to blindfold her and lead her along to a point where they could take it off.

She just hoped she'd be able to keep her promise to Splinter-san. He was kind, and reminded her much of her own sensei, and Jen didn't want to let him down. Or for her turtle friends to get hurt; even that hardheaded purple banded one. Besides, if Donnie ended up hurt or worse, who would she have to mess with?

Meanwhile, back at the villainous headquarters of the Foot clan, barking and snarling could be heard coming from inside, as Shredder's pet Akita Inu, Hachiko wasn't too happy about Chris Bradford trying to pet him.

"It's okay, Hachiko, I'm not gonna hurt you." Chris said in what he thought was a soothing voice, while Xever watched a ways behind with his arms crossed aloofly while hoping to see the idiota (idiot) getting bitten.

Maybe Hachiko would take off one of the spoiled brats fingers. Xever couldn't help smirking sadistically at the thought, which only widened when Bradford cried out in pain as the dog nailed him right on the hand.

"He is not pleased with you." The Shredder told the brutish brunet; spooking the grown man and making both henchmen turn around, as their master stood stoically behind them a he began to walk toward his throne; because let's face it, that's probably how he saw it.

"Nor am I. I entrusted you both with the task of destroying Splinter and his _loathsome_ turtles." He paused to glare disapprovingly down at Bradford, as the henchman bowed his head with the look of a kicked puppy on his face. "I spent _years_ molding you in my image, teaching you my darkest secrets, and you shame me with your incompetence!" Shredder berated brutally.

Xever couldn't help but chuckle, though quickly regretting it when Shredder rounded suddenly on him; his sharp armor making the chilling sound of blades slicing through the air. "You!" The towering man exclaimed just as cuttingly as his armor while he was right up in the surprised Brazilians face before he knew what to do.

"I should have left you to rot in that prison where I found you." His boss stated angrily before turning away, leaving Xever to grimace at having been reminded of he incident and talked down to for it, as Shredder ascended the steps and his henchmen began to try and reason with him to get out of any punishment he might and probably would subject them to.

"The turtles have been lucky so far, but it won't last forever." Bradford tried to defend from where he knelt on the floor. "The next time we meet, I promise you-" Xever began; his tone heated rather than cowering like Bradford's.

"Enough!" Shredder's voice rang out through the large room as he whipped around with eerie elegance and sat down upon his chair. "I am weary of your excuses. I will now destroy the turtles myself!" Shredder told them with fierce and dark certainty.

Elsewhere in the city, in an alley could be found a certain ginger and redhead walking together. "Here I am, walking around in the big city. All alone!" April said loudly as she walked awkwardly down an alleyway; flailing her arms around in a goofy way to try and better attract attention.

"How are you alone, when I'm right here?" Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked like a normal person beside her friend in her usual disguise, with her bow and an arrow tucked under her jacket; trying not to get smacked by one of the gingers flailing arms and making the shorter teen sweat drop.

April cleared her throat as she thought it better not to answer that. "Heh, um... Oh! I hope no crazy pigeon man sneaks up on me and my friend! That would be the last thing I'd want!" Jenny face palmed and wondered why she gave up hanging out with Danny, Kaia, and Martin for this.

Oh, right... because Marty would just rope them into another session of Mutants and Mazes again. There was only so many times she could play that game and NOT think about charging her game piece and exploding the damn thing.

"What are you doing?" Donnie whispered incredulously as he popped out from behind a dumpster. "You wanted me to be bait. I'm bait." April told him in slight annoyance; having only agreed to this crazy idea because Jenny promised to do it with her.

Jenny snickered; surprised Donatello was actually showing he had a problem with something April did but finding it somewhat refreshing. You'd think with how perfect he acted like the ginger was that he'd continue to keep quiet about it. "Yeah, but I don't think he meant for your acting skills to stink like it, Girly." Jen quipped quietly. The ginger shot her a glaring pout; making her snicker some more.

"Exactly! That's not how bait talks!" Oh good grief! He was agreeing with the redhead again, and against the ginger haired girl he was supposed to have feelings for no less! Why did the universe have to be so cruel?

"How do you know how bait talks?!" April hissed back since they were whispering. "Well I would think he would, considering how many times I've _baited_ him." Jenny played lightly; meaning the type of baiting where you tease someone instead of luring kind.

It was Donnie's turn to glower at Jen; who was at this point, very thankful that looks couldn't literally kill, or else she'd have been nothing but a singe mark on the street years ago when she was still a sassy little kid.

"Oh shut up!" Donnie spat; making Jenny's smirk widen as she stuck out her tongue at him. Don rolled his eyes and then rounded on April before he could think better of it. "And I know bait doesn't talk back."

The turtles popped up from their hiding spots to comically "Oooooo" in unison with Jenny at Donatello's sassy reply, and Jen had to give him credit for being able to sass back April for once.

"Oh, no, you didn't!" Mikey teased cheekily as he hung upside-down from the fire escape and waved his finger, before the three siblings just as quickly ducked back into their hiding places; leaving Donnie to stand there embarrassed and chuckling nervously as April stared daggers at him.

"Heh... Just act natural." Don tried to save as he shuffled off back to hide in the shadows. April gave a sigh of aggravation as Jen offered a consoling pat on her shoulder. "Hey, the sooner we find the pigeon guy, the sooner you can go home and feel safe. 'Kay?" Jenny reasoned, and the ginger gave a sullen nod. "Okay…"

April took a deep breath. "Here I am, acting natural." April began even less enthusiastically as the redhead face palmed again. "Just totally defenseless against any, I don't know, hideous mutant pigeon guy who might happen upon me." She went on.

"I'm starting to think I should've gone to game night after all." Jen sighed under her breath as she and April started walking again. But then, there came a cawing from behind them and a whooshing sound from up above that they pretended to ignore.

And just as it came close, and April turned around and threw up her hands in fright, did Jenny whirl around to unsheathed her collapsible bow with an arrow primed and ready to scare it.

Which worked, as it made the creature slow down and try to back up. Giving Donnie the time he needed to aim and use his new tasing device on the pigeon mutant; zapping it and causing it to fall down to the ground where Leo, Raph and Mikey tackled and held it down after Leo yelled "Now!"

"Okay, okay, uncle! Jeez Louise!" The pigeon man cried as he slapped at the ground with his free winged hand. "And you said I wasn't good bait." April said cheekily to Donnie as Jenny stood beside her with her weapon still poised to dissuade the pigeon man from trying anything.

"Actually, he didn't say you weren't good bait. He just said your bait acting skills sucked." The redhead blurted out matter of factly; thinking that her human friend should at least try and be somewhat accurate.

Donnie sweat dropped at the glare the ginger gave him as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry... Just sayin'." Jen apologized with it being her turn to sweat drop at realizing her mistake.

"Okay, start talking, pigeon man." Leonardo ordered; taking away the unwanted angry attention April was giving Donnie. "I have a name!" The pigeon man squawked. "Yeah, we just don't care what it is." Raphael told him meanly.

"I kinda wanna know." Jenny said curiously as she relaxed the hold on her bow and lowered it slightly. The creature looked somewhat gratefully to her, before glaring at Raph as he turned his head all the way around and then looking up to the redhead he thought seemed nice. "It's Pete!" Pete told them.

"Why were you trying to hurt April, Pete?" Leo asked; all the turtles glaring right back at the creature. But Jenny couldn't help feeling bad for the mutant. "I didn't wanna hurt her. I was just bringing her a message. From her father!" Pete answered with a hurt look on his feathery face. April gasped.

"Let him up!" She told them quickly; wanting to know what message this Pete character had for her. Pete stood up as the turtles rose up off of him and began to tell them his tale.

"We were both guests of the Kraang. They poured some ooze on me and turned me into this!" Pete the pigeon mourned woefully as he pressed his hands to his face and slid them down it.

"Oh, that must have been horrible." The redhead offered sympathetically; knowing that being mutated could be a painful and horrifying process from what she'd seen the Kraang do.

She lowered her bow and arrow now that Pete was obviously not a threat. "Yeah, being turned into a pigeon." April added disgustedly with a shudder; clearly not understanding at all what Jen meant.

"Actually, I started out as a pigeon." Pete informed; feeling a little offended by the ginger. "Told you the bread crumbs would have worked." Mikey told them miffedly, before Pete grabbed him and began to look for the bread crumbs.

"You've got bread crumbs?!" Pete gasped frantically. He ended up hugging the turtle like they would come out if he did. "Um, my father?" April interrupted a tad impatiently while she watched Pete now trying to shake the crumbs from the turtle as he held poor Michelangelo upside down.

"Oh, right!" Pete said and dropped the turtle on his head. Jenny rushed to his side to help Mikey up; rubbing the poor terrapins head where he'd hurt it as Mikey whimpered for extra sympathy.

Whenever he'd get hurt around Jenny, the orange banded prankster couldn't help taking advantage of how nice it was to have someone fuss over him in the sweet, sisterly way that the redhead did. It was nice to be cared about. And like Danny, Jenny treated him a lot better than his brothers did at times.

But Jen was just used to doing that when Casey got hurt; even if she went much easier on the bubbly turtle since he was such a tenderhearted terrapin. He was also fun to pull little pranks with.

And because Jen treated him so well, Mikey tended to exclude the redette from his target list. Though it had a lot to do with the fact that Jenny was really good at retaliating; quite often with stuff that blew up. So Mike learned that it was better to have the explosive enthusiast on his side, than against him.

Pete handed April a phone with a recording on it and hit play as she took it. "Something terrible is about to happen." Spoke the recorded voice of Kirby O'Neal as Jenny began to get a sense of impending doom; which was totally never a good thing, even in the boom happy boffins book.

"I don't know what, but it's extremely important that you get out of the city as soon as you can. Save yourself. Remember, I love you." And the recording for April ended there. "I love you too, Daddy." April uttered sadly, on the verge of tears as she closed her eyes tight and held the phone to her chest, before she abruptly turned to Jenny and lay her head on the taller teens shoulder.

Feeling bad for the girl, Jen put an arm around her and rubbed small circles on her back. "Shhh... It's gonna be alright, April. We'll find him. But you have to stay strong for his sake, okay?" The redhead assured her quietly.

April sniffled a little and nodded as she pulled away and met the others soothing green eyes; glad she had her unofficial big sister with her for support. "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Leo asked Pete. "I'm just the messenger." Pete told them with a shrug.

"We have to get you out of the city!" Donnie said worriedly; hoping maybe if April saw how concerned he was for her wellbeing, that she might start to see him as someone to turn to like Jenny. Or in this case, rather than Jenny.

"I'm not going anywhere without my dad!" The ginger angrily told him; a bit outraged and offended that Donatello would even think that she would leave her parent like that after everything.

"But you heard him, something terrible is gonna happen." Donnie tried pleadingly; hoping she would change her mind, and wondering why April almost always gave him some kind of attitude.

Seeing that the two of them were about to get in a fight that would just waste time and hurt feelings unnecessarily, the redette thought it best to put on a happy face and put a stop to it like she was used to doing by now. "Then we'd better hurry!" Jen intervened brightly as she stepped between them when she saw how April looked like she wanted to slap the green off of poor Donnie.

April gave a nod of agreement, but the brainy ninja couldn't take it anymore; mistaking Jenny's attempt to shield him from April's wrath as her just trying to make the tall terrapin look bad.

"You know what, I've had it with you and you're constant interference!" Donnie began fumingly; just plain fed up. "But Donnie-" The redhead tried to reason, but the jealous turtle cut her off crassly.

"Dude, what is your problem? I'm just trying to help! You're acting like you dislike me or something." Jen retorted exasperatedly; beginning to feel a little fed up herself. "That's because I don't!" The purple banded turtle replied; his mouth running away before his mind could catch it.

Everyone except Jenny stood there rather taken aback. "Yeah, well- wait…" Jen paused and blinked; Donnie's words having smacked her right in the face as she stared at him in confusion. "You… don't like me?" It came out quieter and more hurt than Jenny had wanted it to; disliking others seeing how bothered she was by something.

"No! And you know what? We didn't need you now, and we certainly don't need you to help us save April's dad. So why don't you just go home or something, instead of dragging us down like the liability you are!" There was a stunned silence as reddish brown stared into shocked and hurt green.

"Dude, what the shell?! You can't talk to my buddy, Red, like-" Raphael began, but Jenny threw up an arm and gave a slight shake of her head that stopped him from defending her, as she didn't need it.

"Heh, what? No witty come back for that?" Donatello mocked as he crossed his arms over his chest with a mean, victoriously smug little smirk on his face, before it melted away into glower. Those green eyes merely narrowed barely a fraction in response.

"Face it, Jenny. You're just in the way." As Don took out his frustrations in berating her, Jenny's head bowed so that her bangs cast the top half of her face into shadow as her hands clenched into fists; her fingers curling over the bow and arrow in her left hand.

She couldn't believe Donatello could say such things! The redhead had hoped they were friends, and they were beginning to put all of this seemingly pointless hostility Donatello had for her for goodness knows what reason past them.

Okay, so maybe Jen wasn't able to be completely honest with them because her duties as a Guardian in training prevented it, and so even she admitted that she deserved his suspicion, but _this_? No... Just, no.

After all she'd done to go out of her way to try and be friends with him, and help him with things like figuring out a viable and sensible means of making smoke bombs or whatever it was he was working on, or putting up with his near constant mooning over April, and _this_ is how the purple banded ninja showed his appreciation? Pfft! Well screw that!

The moment Donnie dared to utter that last insult, he ended up recoiling back slightly when those usually benevolent and playful green orbs stared up at him with a mixture of hurt, sadness and a piercing ferocity he hadn't seen there before that made Don instantly regret his outburst.

But afore the turtle could open his mouth again, the big mouthed terrapin received a sound slap across the face that seemed to silence the very night, as everyone stared wide eyed at the flabbergasted turtle.

Then, the redhead turned and marched swiftly right around him, and tossed down one of the smoke bombs she'd helped him create to the ground; vanishing from sight and leaving Donatello to stare flummoxed and remorsefully at the spot where the human had been as he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek where she'd struck him and wondering why he suddenly felt like crap instead of in the right…

"Donnie! What's wrong with you?!" April gasped in horror as she clapped her hands over her mouth. "Yeah, man! What the shell?! She's just tryin' to help, and you go and say THAT to her?!" Raphael shouted in angry disbelief, as he was so ticked, he gave Donnie a good whack upside the back of the head for having hurt his scarlet haired pal.

In Raph's mind, Donnie deserved a good shell kicking, but from the way Jen stopped him from doing so earlier, he knew the boffin would've been even more upset had he done that; which was the only thing saving Donnie's ungrateful shell at the moment. "Raph." Leo chided warningly; making said turtle scowl and huff.

Leonardo would've reprimanded his siblings behavior as well, but as the leader of the group and knowing they had more dire matters to contend with, he thankfully turned back to the pigeon and began talking again. It ebbed the tense silence that fell between them as Jenny stormed off. "Can you tell us where the Kraang are holding him?"

"I can, but it's gonna cost you a lot of bread." Pete told him in a sly way. "We're talking about actual bread, right?" Leo asked a tad uncertainly; wanting to make sure they were on the same page.

The pigeon nodded and cooed. "Yeah. Sourdough!" Pete replied enthusiastically. "Done." Leo agreed; figuring he could ask Jenny (if she was still talking to them after this) to get some later, or maybe use it as an excuse to visit Akira.

What with her working in a restaurant and all, she was bound to have access to bread, right? Though the tension was still there, they now had an objective to complete and so they had to put their heads back in the game.

"Let's roll!" Mikey chirped excitedly before tossing down a smoke bomb in the hopes of lightening the mood. But little did they know, that up above, some Foot ninja had been watching from the shadows.

Meanwhile, at the fish market, Xever was picking out a fish to bring to Akira later for her and her grandfather to prepare for him. This one was a type of snakehead fish. It was a rather ugly looking thing with fangs, reddish purple flesh and big yellow eyes!

Even though his flor bela (beautiful flower) seemed to have an accepting heart and mind when it came to himself and the previous fish he'd brought in, surely even she couldn't resist finding this one to be a hideous creature.

There was just no way, he thought in amusement as he picked it up with his hand to inspect it up close. He'd have to make sure the fish monger wrapped up the head so that the ravenet could have a bit of fun by chasing Akira around with it if it freaked the cute brunette out.

"That's the _ugliest_ thing I've ever seen. Present company excluded." Chris remarked disgustedly; wondering why of all the fish, that Xever chose that one, as the thief tossed it to the merchant selling it. The smooth criminal smirked as he watched the idiota trying to get a grip on the slippery thing.

"So, we have a problem." Bradford began soberly with his hands on his hips as he stood behind his partner in crime. Xever rolled his eyes in exasperation; wondering why the heck Chris had to follow him about like some moping mongrel.

"No,_ you _have a problem." The slim thug chuckled. "We've _both_ failed Master Shredder. Can you live with that shame?" Chris argued; causing Xever's previously light mood to darken as he sighed gruffly.

"If I had the opportunity, I would _crush_ those turtles like bugs!" The riled up roughen growled; his fingers curling into a crushing motion just before Bradford's phone began to ring.

Flipping it open and reading the message one of his minions had sent him, Chris smirked in a way that caught Xever's curiosity. "What is that?" He asked; hoping it wasn't just Shredder wanting to bust their balls again for failing. "Opportunity." The brunet told him with a light yet evil tone, just as the butcher knife the merchant was using came down to chop off the deadly fishes head.

But getting back to the turtles… "Piece of cake." Donnie exclaimed quietly as he managed to get the cover off of a vent where they were on the roof. As tall as he was, he had to stand on Mikey's shell to get it off. Jenny was sadly the only one absent, no thanks to Donnie.

Normally Jen would've gritted her teeth to help make sure April got her dad back, but Donnie had gone to far this time. After all, even someone as tolerant as the redhead did have her limits. Besides, if the Kraang were really up to something then she needed to consult her team and possibly her sensei, as this had to do with the WHOLE freakin' city.

So it wasn't like Jen had much choice in which one she had to choose to protect. The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or they one as they say. And, in cases such as these, it was a sad truth to bear.

"Let's do this!" April loudly whispered; eager to go and save her dad. "We need you to wait here, April." Leonardo told her as he caught her by the shoulder to keep her back. "Are you crazy? My dad's in there!" The ginger argued.

"Along with who knows how many Kraang! This requires stealth and mobility. Leave it to the pros." The blue banded ninja countered; trying to assure her they could handle it. Heck, even if Jenny was there, he wouldn't have let April come along either. Yet another reason Jen knew it was a waste of time to hang around.

"I can't just do nothing!" April scoffed. "You won't be doing nothing. We need you to lower this rope when we give you the signal." He told her; as it was actually a very important job, as he handed their lifeline out to her.

And maybe, had the redhead been there to tell April they were right in leaving April behind to man the rope and that it was a job that mattered, she might've complied... Oh shell! Who was she kidding? Of course she wouldn't have! It was her dad whose life was at stake after all!

The turtles snuck about the Kraang base as stealthily as one could in a brightly lit white, purple and black base; taking out Kraang droids as they went, until they reached what looked like some kind of control room. "Donnie, hack into the system and see what you can find out about the Kraang's plot. Raph, you're with me. Mikey, you stay with Donnie." Leo ordered firmly.

"Why do I always get stuck with Mikey?" Donnie whined in protest. "Hey...!" Mikey squeaked; very hurt by the sudden insult. "I don't want him. And I'm in charge." Leo argued as he jabbed at his chest with his thumb.

"Hey!" Mikey squeaked again, but as usual, they ignored him and his feelings. Where the heck did this sudden hostility come from? Danny wouldn't have ever said something like THAT to him!

Nor would Jenny. The strong redette would've stuck up for him had she been there; making Michelangelo miss the archers presence even more. "Well, then make Raph take Mikey." Donnie countered.

"Over my dead body." Raphael objected coldly as he crossed his arms. "You know, I'm starting to think nobody wants to be with me!" Michelangelo voiced offendedly. Why didn't his own brothers want him on their team? He was useful… wasn't he?

"Fine, I'll just go off on my own." But when the bubbly ninja went to poof away with a smoke bomb, he accidentally ended up going through the wrong door. "That's a closet." The youngest turtle chuckled embarrassedly.

"Have fun, you two." Raph snarked as he walked out with Leo; who spared Don a smile. "Whoa. Um, huh. What's that button-" Mikey began as he became entranced by all the cool looking lit up things that screamed to be pressed and poked.

"Don't touch anything!" Donnie grabbed his little bros hand and squished it painfully with a small cracking sound; making Mikey grit his teeth to keep from making too much sound, before he chuckled sheepishly at the warning look the other gave him.

Leo and Raph hurried off and managed to find April's dad in a cell, and as Leo agreed with Mr. O'Neil about how stubborn his daughter was, the turtle began work on trying to get him out while Raphael kept watch.

All the while, Donnie was trying to figure out the complicated Kraang controls as Mikey pestered him with his little game of "What's that one do?" and Donnie repeatedly had to answer "I don't know." as he tried to fight off the orange banded pest to keep him from pressing something he shouldn't; causing Don to grow more and more agitated with his antics.

"Oooooo! That's a pretty one!" Mikey suddenly cried with wide eyes of excitement as he tried push it. "Just stop it!" Donnie snapped; fed up with his sibling as he smashed his fists down onto the console, which ironically granted them access to what he was looking for. "Ha, ha, I'm in!" The brainy turtle cheered as Mikey smirked.

"You're welcome." Mike said rather snidely to his sibling; betting Donnie was glad he was around now, before he ended up getting thrown back by the other and landing on his shell with an "Oof!" while Donnie went back to trying to figure out the plan.

"Uh oh...!" Donnie uttered as the schematics for the Kraang's plan popped up on screen. After seeing what the Kraang had in store for the city, Donatello concluded that they needed to find their brothers, and fast!

"Since it's taking Leo forever to pick that lock..." Raph began derisively; recalling how Jenny had told them to open it the first time and wondering why they simply didn't. "I'm working on it!" Leo groused as he worked.

"Maybe you can tell us what the heck's the deal with the Kraang." Raph continued. "They're aliens from another dimension. When they came here, they brought the mutagen with them." Kirby explained helpfully.

"Why? What's the point of turning people into monsters?" Leonardo asked bewilderedly. "The mutagen doesn't work the way they thought it would. Apparently the physical laws of their universe are different from ours." Kirby edified; maybe a little toooooo helpfully...

"So they're grabbing scientists to help them modify the ooze!" The blue banded ninja realized in horrified awe. "Wow, you figured it out! How's that lock coming?!" Raph mocked impatiently as the place rather creeped him out.

"So what do they want the ooze to do?" Leo asked; ignoring his brother. "I wish I knew." Kirby admitted as he bowed his head. "Leo, Raph, they've planted a mutagen bomb downtown!" Donnie told them in a panic as he came running around the corner with Mikey close behind.

"They're gonna use it to disperse ooze over half the city!" He told them, before his mood took a complete 360 when he saw Kirby. "Oh, hi, Mr. O'Neil. You're daughter's really nice." The helpless romantic in a half shell kindly told Kirby; causing the man to make a questioning face.

"Okay, we have to disarm that bomb! If I could just get this stupid door open!" Leo said; dragging Donnie back to reality. "Have you tried this?" Mikey asked as he smashed his hand down on a big button on the wall that he couldn't help thinking looked oddly familiar. "NO!" His brothers screamed in unison; as they knew exactly why that button looked familiar. Mikey chuckled embarrassedly.

"And that's why no one wants to be with you!" Raph scolded as he gave Mikey a jab to the chest; making Mikey feel even more lousy. "Got it!" Leo exclaimed triumphantly as the door opened. "Let's move!" He ordered, just as Kraang droids quickly marched in and the sound of laser fire met their ears.

Leonardo began cooing like a pigeon and weirding out his siblings when they ducked behind some crates to escape the gunfire. "What are you doing?!" Raph asked; thinking his bro had finally cracked. "April, throw the rope!" The red banded ninja yelled up at the opening they'd come in from.

"Dad!" April cried. "April!" Kirby yelled back; as Raph wondered why the heck April hadn't been hanging onto the rope and been ready for them, instead of having to run to get it and wasting precious escape time. Argh! They wouldn't have had this problem if Jenny had stuck around, Raph thought agitatedly.

And as the alien filled robots began to surround them and they began to get overwhelmed, even Donnie couldn't help thinking it would've been good to have someone up above laying down cover fire like the redhead usually did. Oh man... why couldn't he have kept his big mouth shut...?

"Mr. O'Neil, what are you doing?" Leo asked when he saw Kirby grab a Kraang gun that slid his way and began shooting. "Save my daughter. Save the city!" The human told them as he gave them the cover fire they so desperately needed to escape; causing Donatello to feel even worse about having chased Jenny away.

"Daddy, no!" April cried in distress for fear of losing her father yet again as the balding man ran into the fray to take the droids attention off of the turtles. "Go, go!" Leo ordered his brothers; not wanting to leave the man, but not having much of an option if they wanted to live.

"We can't leave him here!" Donnie tried to argue incredulously; he couldn't believe this was happening! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! "We don't have a choice!" Leonardo hissed; clearly upset with Donatello as well for having chased off their favorite archer.

The purple banded brother flinched as the guilt he felt began to roil up and eat away at his insides. And April's crying out "NO!" when the Kraang seized her father and drug him away did absolutely nothing to help.

And when the ginger had to cover her mouth with both hands to keep from screaming as a muffled whimper escaped her, and she turned and threw her arms around Donatello since he was the closest friend available; because Jenny wasn't there to comfort her, the geeky turtle didn't feel like he'd won anything.

As Donnie finally held April in his arms and felt nothing but soul crushing guilt and anguish because this was all his fault, instead of ecstatic that the ginger was finally giving him some attention, Donatello definitely knew that he'd done wrong by Jenny. And that if for no one else's sake but April's, he needed to make things right...

"We'll get him back, April." Donnie told her solemnly as he pushed her away to look at her. "I promise." Oh man... this was all his fault...! The reason April looked so crushed and upset, he could've probably prevented it had he just not let his jealousy get the better of him!

"We gotta go!" Leo said; interrupting them, as they had no time to waste if they were going to stop that bomb in time. However, while they left to go stop the mutagen bomb from going off, a certain scarlet haired Guardian in training was starting to cool off from the foul mood she'd been in.

Knowing that something big and undoubtedly very bad was about to go down in the city, and that it was her duty to try and protect it, Jenny called up Akira and told her what happened.

Their team met up at the Utrom facility, since its temporal displacement allowed for them to have time to discuss what was going on and how they could potentially try to avoid it.

Though Jenny left out the part about what Donatello had said to her since she didn't want her friends to know and react negatively towards the turtle, and merely stated that the turtles told her that they didn't require her assistance, Haruhi could still tell that something was wrong.

The bafflingly beautiful yet understanding brunette saw the redhead as his extended family since Jen and Akira practically grew up together, and after hearing Jen's debriefing, Haru sent the other three away to speak privately with the silently suffering boffin.

"Tell me, child, what troubles you so?" Haruhi asked gently as the redette sat across from him with her hands clenched into fists on her lap. "It's… nothing important." Jenny lied lamely; looking away to the side at nothing in particular.

"I cannot in good conscience, send you out into danger, if your mind is not focused on the task at hand. And so, neither you nor your team will leave until you have told me." The brunette stated firmly. Jenny's head snapped up as she stared at her mentor with wide green eyes. "Bu-but you can't! We have to-!"

"I _can_, and _have_. Now, as you have nothing else to do, why don't you regale me with this supposed 'nothing' that seems to have bothered you so much that you could not join your new friends on their mission?" Jen bowed her head; curly bangs hiding the top half of her face as she sat there stubbornly.

"Last I recalled, you were rather determined to reunite the April girl with her father, were you not?" Hazel-green eyes softened when the redheads fingernails dug into the fabric of her pants.

"I… I _was_, but…" Jen began quietly, but then sighed heavily as her shoulders slumped. "I don't know what to do, Sensei…" The sorrowful student confessed; at a loss for what to do as she was still so mad and hurt by what Donnie had said to her.

Jenny felt the presence of her mentor come and kneel down beside her. A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and gave a gentle squeeze to make her look up with misty green eyes that were fighting to hold back tears.

Haruhi frowned at the sight, as there wasn't much that could upset the usually bold redette like this. The boffin was a charismatic and brave youngling, but like the rest of his students, and pretty much anyone really, Jenny was a sensitive soul underneath it all.

Even though Jennifer acted tough and like nothing bothered her, that tender heart of hers could be easily scarred when she grew to care for someone enough to let them get that close.

And as his student relented and began to tell him about what had happen, it became very clear that that person had been one of the turtles by the name of Donatello. The redhead had mentioned him before, and from what Haruhi could discern by the way Jen had spoken of him, they were becoming friends.

Even though it was a rather strained friendship that seemed to come out of nowhere in Jenny's opinion, since Donnie gave off the impression that he didn't like her, though the redhead had no idea why, Jen confessed that she'd thought the two of them were really starting to hit it off.

And that Donatello could be pretty fun to be around, even if he tended to act like a bipolar jerk when he became distracted by April. But despite that, her fellow tech enthusiast could still be fun to mess with, and Jenny couldn't help liking the purple banded ninja anyway.

After hearing the troubled boffin out, Haruhi muddled it all over silently before offering Jenny some advice. He told his studious student that it didn't matter if Donatello wanted to be friends or not, nor whether or not the turtles wanted her around or if he hated the redette.

Haruhi told her that it didn't even matter if she was friends with the April girl and that the ginger wanted her around and to help save her father. What WAS of import however, was that Jenny wanted to save the girls father and to help her.

Jennifer considered this and though she still felt kinda crummy, she told her sensei that she did still want to help April, as she hoped if anything ever happened to Casey, that someone might try to do the same for her. Though she sincerely hoped nothing bad ever happened to her goofy bro.

And so, with her mental and emotional states sorted out, and her resolve renewed, Jenny was able to think clearly again and thanked her sensei, before she and her teammates were allowed to leave and go seek out the facility where April's father was supposedly being kept.

Using her trick to find the turtles via their cell phones, Jenny pinpointed the location where they had previously been by hacking the GPS on their phones. They laid waste to any droids and Kraang that dared get in their path as they searched for any sign of April's father.

However, they had arrived too late, as the slippery slime balls may have been stupid, but they were very quick when they felt their safety or mission was threatened. And so, the Kraang had taken the man and gone, as Akira and her team couldn't find any signs that he had even been there.

Kaia couldn't even pick up a scent. It was like the sneaky aliens had somehow sanitized the entire place; which wouldn't technically be difficult to do if they had a setup for it like in a decontamination chamber like you'd walk through to go in and out of certain laboratories, Trickshot (Jenny) reasoned irately.

Jen gave an aggravated growl and let loose a short string of choice curse words that made Savage (Kaia) cover Nightwatcher's (Danny's) ears, before hurrying to find the control room to see if maybe they had any information on where they might be moving Mr. O'Neil.

When she activated the monitor and searched to see what the Kraang were plotting, she saw the plan that Donatello had been browsing about the mutagen bomb. Her eyes grew wide as Trickshot called the rest of her team in and explained to them what it was all about, since she took the time to brush up on how to read the Kraang and Utrom language after training.

She wasn't a master at the language, but Jen knew more than Donnie did, because the boffin did had NOT missed a very important detail that the turtle had in terms of just how _many_ mutagen bombs there were hidden in the city.

It seemed there were two mutagen bombs instead of one, as Donatello had assumed since he could not read Kraang; each with a differently altered batch of mutagen so that the Kraang could see what happened to what, and modify it from there.

Luckily, as the Kraang weren't too bright, they liked having all the instructions for stuff they were doing in case they needed to abort a mission or whatever. So the schematics for the bomb and how to disarm it were all there; one just needed to be able to read the language. Or at least enough to figure out which wire to cut.

Having discerned that vital bit of information, Jenny told her team what to do and which wire to cut; showing them the diagram that had a picture to make sure they understood, before they went their separate ways.

Livewire, Nightwatcher, and Savage headed out to take out the bomb that the turtles weren't headed towards, as Jenny had checked to see where they were and told them where the other one was located.

Meanwhile, Trickshot took off toward the Wolf Hotel to meet up with the turtles and defuse the vile Kraang contraption, before Donnie accidentally cut the wrong wire or something; all the while hoping that she'd arrive before it was too late…

The turtles told April to go back to the lair while they headed off as fast as they could, and arrived at the Wolf Hotel in time to see a large mutagen bomb surrounded by Kraang that they had hidden right behind the hotels sign.

"Kraang, in how many time units known as minutes will the device containing the mutagen that will be spread over the place known as New York, be detonated?" Asked a droid; mangling the English language like it was a well practiced hobby.

"Five." The droid below answered, before getting an arrow through his head that had an M80 tied to it to explode the robots head. Raph and his brothers took a page from Jenny's book, since she wasn't there to help, and grabbed themselves some bows and arrows to take out the Kraang creeps sniper style like the redhead usually did for them.

Once they'd gotten enough of them, Leo got all up close and personal with his swords on one of the robots; sending its occupant running away squealing in distress, before the coast was clear. "Okay, Donnie, it's up to you." Leonardo told the other. "Uh oh!" Don muttered as he saw what was underneath of the panel he lifted.

"Uh oh? Donnie, you said you knew how to do this!" Their leader exclaimed in an irked way; not liking the sound of that "Uh oh". "I didn't count on a design this complex, Leo." The brainy turtle protested; it wasn't everyday he had to defuse an alien bomb.

"They're aliens from another dimension. What did you expect? A big round ball with a lit fuse that said bomb?!" The blue banded brother countered irately. Did Donnie seriously think it was going to be so easy?

"No, but this-" Donnie began, before Raph pushed Leo out of the way to mock his brother. "Oh, boy, I sure hope this argument goes on for another four minutes and fifteen seconds." He snarked derisively; getting them back on point as he gave Donnie another smack to the back of the head. Since the redheads hostile dismissal, Raph had been a bit more _slap happy_; minus the happy...

Donnie was sweating his shell off trying to figure out how to diffuse the darn thing, when Leonardo started backseat driving when he reach for a wire. "Careful!" Donnie shot him a twitchy, angry look.

"Watch out for those wires!" Raphael chimed in; all of them beyond nervous, though not so much as their tallest sibling, who had all the pressure of getting it right or mutating half the city on his shoulders.

Usually on their missions, Jenny was there to keep them off his shell for the most part and even offer advice. And though Donnie hated to admit it, he was starting to miss the archer. "You guys are NOT helping!" Don told them in an effort to shoo them away. "What if we push this button?" Mikey asked curiously as he went to go push it.

Thankfully Raphael grabbed his arm and prevented it. "Don't you think you've pushed enough buttons tonight?" He scolded, while Donnie went back to trying to figure it out. "Donnie, you're gonna have to speed this up." Leo urged impatiently.

"I cannot work with all this pressure!" The purple banded brother screeched as he clutched at his head exasperatedly. A noise caught Leo's attention as he saw something he wished he hadn't. "Um, that might be a problem..." The eldest said, as he got them to look over at the figures standing on the roof with them.

Bradford and Xever stood perched up on the back of the hotel sign; the deranged delinquent smirking while the mental martial artist glowered down at the turtles, who all prepared to fight as they took up their stances and unsheathed their weapons. All except for Donnie of course, since he needed to disarm the bomb still.

The three siblings and the two henchmen charged at one another as they engaged in battle; with Xever quickly taking down Mikey, before Leonardo rushed in and defended his youngest sibling. "You guys picked a really bad time for this!" He told the long legged henchman.

"Oh, sorry for the inconvenience." Xever mocked smoothly as he did a back flip to get away from the blue banded turtle. "When would you prefer to breathe your last breath?" The thief came at Leo again with another kick.

"If that thing goes off, it'll wipe us all out!" Leo tried to reason with the unstable pair of villains. "I'd rather perish with honor than live in shame!" Chris growled as he fought with Raphael.

"Will you hurry up and defuse the bomb?! We're dealing with a couple of nut jobs here!" The red banded turtle shouted as he tried to protect his nerdy brother. "Be quiet!" Donnie yelled back; not in the mood for his brothers impatient and foul tempered lip.

It was really getting to be quite the hellacious fight between the two sides, as Xever took on Raphael, and Bradford singled out Michelangelo as he still had a bone to pick with him; with Leonardo going back and forth to help whichever sibling he could get to.

Chris charged at Mikey like an angry beast and knocked him hard against the cold metal that held up the sign. The orange banded turtle felt the wind get knocked out of him as he was painfully crushed; his nun chucks falling to the ground, before he quickly followed suit.

"Danny's not here to save you now, _freak_!" Bradford sneered venomously as he raised his sword. Mikey's eyes went wide afore he glared defiantly right back; each of them blaming the other for what happened to their favorite ash-brunet that night and hoping for a chance of avenging Danny's honor.

But just as the brutish brunet was about to bring the blade down on the beaten and defenseless turtle, Michelangelo managed to grab one of his chucks. "I'm not the one that's gonna need saving, _jerk._" Mikey countered heatedly as he fought back. He managed to fend Bradford off until Leo came to help.

"Down to two wires. Which do I cut?! Black or green?" Donnie fretted disconcertedly as the pressure was starting to get to him. "Go for the green! Ugh!" Mikey shouted before getting hit by Bradford.

"Eh, why not!" Donnie shrugged without much option, as he closed his eyes as he went to cut the opposite wire Mikey told him to. But then he felt a hand upon his quickly guide him down to the right one and press down to clip it.

And as he opened his eyes, Donatello was stunned to see none other than Jenny beside him! Okay, she was all dressed up in her usual covert garb when she went on missions with them, and looking rather pissed off still, but it was still her! "J-Jenny?!" He breathed in disbelief.

But before Don could say anything more to her, Jen took off wordlessly and with purpose to help Raphael. Donatello looked down at the bomb, and saw that it hadn't exploded and was no longer beeping mockingly at him. He sprang up to tell his brothers the good news.

"Guys, guys, Mikey was right about something!" Donnie shouted joyously, before unsheathing his bo staff and leaping into the fray to help his brothers. Wow, Don never thought he would be so happy to see that scarlet haired menace again! Now he really felt the need to apologize for being such a jerk...

Jenny saw Xever going pretty hard after her red banded buddy, and knocked him away as she fought him off with her bow like it was a staff; shouting "GOONGALA!" as she attacked.

Sure, Xever managed to get some hits in and knocked the redette back because Jen hadn't expected him to be so freakishly fast, but she hadn't fought him before so she had to wing it.

And winging it was something Jennifer Jones did pretty well, even if it was a close quarter fight. But with the way the guy moved, Jen didn't have much other choice. Soon the five of them had the two villains back to back, with no place to run and no real room to fight.

"You are worthy adversaries, but this fight is ours. Lay down your weapons." Leonardo told them in his hero voice; holding Bradford at sword point. "Never!" Xever roared defiantly at Leo.

"You don't have a choice. You've lost." The blue banded turtle couldn't help pointing out a tad cockily. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Chris told them as he suddenly turned his blade and stabbed the giant tank of mutagen they were standing beside.

"NO!" Jen and Donnie screamed at the same time just the instant before the glass broke and mutagen spewed out; carrying the two villains with it, who just didn't seem to have any luck with liquid.

The two of them were washed down screaming from the platform and down onto the rooftop, while the turtles and Jen could do nothing but watch since the two men were covered with mutagen.

Now,_ had _Jenny seen Bradford during the fight, she might have recognized him as Danny's creepy cousin; having seen him around a few times, but never had much interaction with him, since the brunet seemed more interested in Danny.

However, as her priorities had been elsewhere, and unfortunately she hadn't seen him since she was busy keeping Xever at bay and the doofus ended up covered in mutagen. Though upon hearing the voice, Jen couldn't help a passing thought that it sounded a little familiar.

With the crisis now averted, Jen spared Raph a look to ask if he was okay. Raph gave her a subtle nod, before the redhead took off since she was 'no longer needed' and really didn't feel like being around them right now. Well, at least not Donnie anyway.

The purple banded ninja noticed her sneak off and frowned sadly; wishing she would at least stay to celebrate. He needed to apologize to Jen, or at least tell her thanks for having helped them out. Donnie found that it actually pained him to see the helpful boffin taking off like that and knowing it was because of him.

The turtles hopped down once the mutagen had cleared and turned to one another. "So to sum up, we kicked the butts of the Kraang and Shredder's top henchmen _while _defusing a bomb and saving the city." Leo listed brightly; feeling pretty cocky like the rest of his brothers despite everything else that had taken place.

"Yeah, we're not overconfident." Raph joined in. "We're just that good!" Leo added as he struck a cool pose and winked, before Leo, Mikey and Raph all whooped and hi-fived.

"Your skills are impressive." Called a dark, sinister voice from the shadows that halted the turtles tracks, and made the redhead pause to listen from where she'd gone to hide in the shadows and travel ninja style.

But then, she figured they probably didn't need her help and shook her head; thinking it might be more productive to meet up with her team to see if they'd gotten any leads on April's dad and headed off. Besides, they had their smoke bombs if they got into trouble… right?

The four brothers looked up and saw a formidable looking ninja with silvery armor that was sharp in more ways than just looking awesome; as it had deadly looking blades on most parts of it.

The wicked warrior jumped down from where the full moon gleamed eerily behind him and down onto the ledge of the roof they were on below. "But they will not save you." He told the turtles with deadly certainty; thinking the mysterious person who'd left was long gone.

A pity really, as he'd seen how skillfully the stranger had fought against the likes of Xever and had hoped to have a go at the fighter himself when he was done making soup of the Hamato Yoshi's pet turtles.

"Oh, man. Do you think THAT'S the Shredder?" Donnie breathed somewhat fearfully as the four terrapins were all rather stupefied by the wicked looking warrior before them.

"Well, it's definitely _A _Shredder." Raph tried to quip, but it just came out sounding meek much to the red banded turtles irritation; as they all got a sort of seriously bad vibe from the guy, who stood up straight and took a few steps toward them.

"There is undoubtedly a _fascinating_ story in how my old nemesis came to teach ninjutsu to four mutant turtles. Perhaps I will let one of you live long enough to tell it." The Shredder mused rather menacingly.

"You're gonna have to catch us first!" Leonardo taunted. "Mikey!" He cued his youngest sibling to toss a smoke bomb. "So long, suckah!" The orange banded turtle shouted mockingly as he tossed down the egg bomb.

However, instead of a coolly colored puff of smoke that appeared for them to vanish from, they heard a wet splat as the bomb turned out to be an ordinary egg... "Oops. All right, that one's on me." Mikey apologized rather abashedly, before the Shredder had had enough of their antics and came at them.

Raph was up first, but the armored warrior was too much for him and the short-tempered turtle ended up getting knocked back into the hotel sign and shocked with electricity, before he dropped down.

"RAPH!" Leo cried before he went to avenge his sibling. Unfortunately he didn't fair much better and ended up losing his swords and getting kicked away from them. "LEO!" Donatello called out in distress; kneeling down to check his brother to make sure he was still alive, before he tried his hand at the fearsome Foot leader.

But the man merely whooped him with his own weapon. And then, the only one left was young Michelangelo; but sadly that fight was the shortest of all. A few well thrown ninja stars were thrown at the villain by Mikey before he rolled over the edge of the roof to distract him, so that Leo and Donnie could make another attempt at attacking the sharply dressed ninja.

Michelangelo used this time to check on Raphael, who was still rather out of it, but smiled when Mikey rolled him over and got up to help his brothers. They were quite literally and metaphorically not even making a dent in this guy, much less that shiny armor. Just what the heck was that stuff made out of?!

Soon, all four ninja turtles were attacking him, with only Mikey having been the one to take the Shredder by surprise; using his nun chucks to suspend the human high up. But this was a bad move on the creative ninjas part, as it pissed off the Shredder and made him slice down part of the sign; which fell and landed on Mikey.

The orange turtles shrill cry of pain frightened his brothers, as they feared the worst when they ran to lift it off of him. The youngest turtles cry was so loud that it had echoed and rang through the night clear as a bell, but far more horrible as it met Jenny's ears.

She hadn't wanted to leave them, so she had been taking her time after the fight started; thinking the turtles could probably handle things from there as she figured it was just another goon, and yet feeling worried that they might need her and not wanting to get too far from them to help.

For you see, because the turtles had chosen to keep what they knew of the Shredder (which wasn't much) from her, Jen had no idea who the guy was or that he was actually a threat to her skilled ninja friends.

It was mostly because their dealings with the Foot clan were rather personal and they didn't think she or April needed to be bothered knowing about it; least their two human friends end up worrying or trying to help and getting hurt.

However, it was also in part to Donnie having manipulated the situation in hopes of somehow preventing Jenny from becoming better friends or whatever with April. Which, the jealous turtle would undoubtedly be regretting later once he figured this out.

But when Jen heard Mikey's scream, it reminded her of the promise she'd made to Splinter to at least try and bring his sons back to him in one piece, and the memory of that set a fire under her resolve, as Jenny placed her feelings aside and hurried back as fast as she could to see what the shell was going on.

The fight between Shredder and the turtles carried on, but no matter how hard they fought, they couldn't seem to gain any ground. In fact, with the way they were scratched, beaten, bruised and just all around worn down from the physical exertion, it didn't take much before Shredder had them all down and Leonardo at his mercy.

The blade of his tekko-kagi on either side of the blue banded turtles throat; shimmering menacingly in the moonlight as he held the turtle up against a wall. "Tell me where Splinter is and I promise your demise will be swift!" The wicked warrior demanded; a third blade slowly sliding out between the two and up towards Leo's face with a taunting metallic screech.

However, the sound of ragged breathing from behind him caused Shredder to turn around to see what it was; his eyes widened in disgusted horror at the hideous creature that flopped wetly toward him. A clawed hand reached out as the creature gasped "Help me!" in a familiar Brazilian voice.

"What is this?!" Oroku Saki asked; clearly taken aback by the mutating beasts before him that were covered in some strange looking ooze. However this short distraction allowed Leo to fall down and for his brothers to quietly come and get him.

"Xever? Bradford?" He inquired uncertainly; wondering just what in the world was going on. Glancing back to find out what the turtle knew, he saw that Leo was gone. "RRRRRAGH!" He bellowed angrily; hurrying to see where they had slithered off to, and seeing them limping away.

The turtles froze in pain and terror as they glanced back to see the man come roaring at them; razor sharp blades poised to strike! But just as he was within a few feet of them, an arrow whistled down at him, and the Shredder had to leap back to avoid it as it landed at his feet.

Looking up from where it landed, his masked face was met with the steel-toed boot of none other than the mysterious archer; using the kick to then push off of him and causing the creep to stumble back, while Jen did a flip in mid air and landed about a foot or so in front of the turtles so that the redhead stood protectively between them and the armored assassin.

The Shredder began to come at his enigmatic new foe, just as Jen raised her hand to toss down a smoke bomb. But within that instant, there was the tiniest moment where their eyes met, and the older ninja froze.

Oroku Saki's eyes widening in a mixture of bewilderment and wonder as he caught sight of the newcomers vibrant green eyes, that seem to glow oh so brightly in the moonlight.

And Saki's mind was immediately reminded of his beloved Haruhi. But in the next instant, Jenny tossed down the smoke bomb and the sight was lost to the lovelorn villain, as the mysterious warrior and the turtles were engulfed by the smoke and vanished into the night!

Leaving Shredder to furiously howl "NOOOOOOOOO!" to the cool night air, as Jenny and the turtles hid silently in the shadows below, before it was safe for the redette to get them down into the sewer.

Having put petty feelings aside as Jen knew they needed her help, Jenny frowned and pulled out a blindfold so that she could carry the worst of them back to the lair; mentally telling herself that the turtles still didn't trust her yet and that they probably had every right to.

But to her great surprise, Raphael reached over and took the folded bandana from her hands and tossed it on the ground. "I don't think you'll be needing that anymore." He assured quietly, as it kinda hurt to talk and they were still trying to be stealthy.

Raph looked to the rest of his brothers with a small smile, which they did their best to return, and they all gave an approving nod of agreement. Even Donnie; which rather left Jen dumbfounded.

Nonetheless, the boffin gave a nod of her own and smiled appreciatively. Jenny put Mikey's arm around her shoulder and they made their way slowly to the lair without another word. To which she was glad, as Jenny didn't feel like speaking just yet.

In the light, Jen felt a tug on her heartstrings to see her terrapin friends so badly injured, and quickly went about fetching the first aid kit from her backpack and setting about tending to their wounds; even if Raph did fuss a bit about being tended to, it was just for show like her brother Casey sometimes did.

When she reached Donatello and knelt down where he was lying on the couch, he went to sit up and talk to her to try and apologize. But the redhead placed a finger to his lips and gave the softest of shushes to silence him and made him lay back down.

Though Donnie wanted to make amends, it was clear by the way Jenny refused to look at him and the focused frown on her face, that she was still very upset and didn't want to talk.

So for now, he stayed silent and still, and moved however Jen needed him to so she could attend to his injuries. Though, Jen couldn't help but find it just the slightest bit odd that Donnie had, as usual, been able to take the hint from her, but he seemed oblivious to any hints April tried to give him to shut up and leave her alone.

April was there helping her; having given the ginger a few lessons in first aid in case the redette couldn't be there to help. And so April was busy tending to Mikey, while Splinter took care of Leonardo as his eldest son reluctantly told their sensei what had happened.

But when they were all done, the turtles and their human friends sat or stood around the lair in a tense silence. So much had gone on and so many emotions and losses had been had, that they were all severely bummed out and no one felt like talking.

Jenny didn't feel like hanging around now that the turtles were safe and taken care of, so she headed for the entrance without a word to wait for April to see the girl home safe as usual.

But as she passed by April who was sitting back by the turnstiles, Jenny placed a hand lightly on the girls shoulder and spared her a deeply apologetic look. April reached up and placed her hand on the others and Jen gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Want me to wait outside to take you home?" Jenny asked so quietly that the ginger almost hadn't heard her.

April paused to consider and then gave a small incline of her head. Jen returned it with one of her own and went out into the abandoned subway line just outside of the lair to lean against the wall where the atmosphere wasn't so heavy but she could still hear if they started talking to wait for her friend.

She knew that right now April shouldn't be alone, and wanted to make sure she got home okay after everything that had happened. Even if this whole thing all started out as just Jenny trying to stay close to April to find out what the Kraang wanted with her, they had ended up becoming good friends like with most of the turtles, and now the redhead felt protective of her like one would a sibling.

"You were all very lucky." Splinter gravely told them when he came back into the room; having watched as the redhead took charge in tending to his sons, and feeling deeply appreciative that Jen had made sure they'd come home alive as she had promised. "Well, I think we define that word differently, Sensei." Raphael remarked bitterly. "Few have ever faced the Shredder and survived!" Splinter

"He was just _so fast_..." Mikey whispered loudly in disbelief. "It was like he was everywhere at once!" Donnie said in much the same way; having moved to try and sit as close to April as he could without her shooting him an angry look. She was still upset with him for what he'd said to Jenny and couldn't help but blame him for not being able to rescue her dad.

"You were right about us being overconfident, Sensei. There are some things we're just not ready for." Leonardo admitted somberly. "Yeah... if it hadn't been for Red showin' up when she did..." Raphael trailed off forebodingly as they all exchanged mutually apprehensive looks, as none of them wanted to think about the "what if" of that situation if the redhead hadn't shown up when she did…

Splinter looked pensive at this and then placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "Perhaps. But that no longer matters. It is clear now that the Shredder is a problem that will not go away. So prepare yourselves, my sons." Their sensei told them in a voice that grew more grave by the second.

Splinter's eyes caught Jenny's after she heard him speaking and came to peek around the corner with her arms crossed over her chest; her hood and mask off as she didn't need them in the lair, but her expression shifting to match the gravity of Splinter's tone. "Because as of this moment, we are at _war_…!"

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued... <strong>

**Yep! Jenny and Donnie finally had a bit of a fight it seems. Wonder if he'll ever work up the nerve to apologize? I mean, despite all the jealousy and junk, Donatello was still on surprisingly friendly terms with Jen; hence why he feels bad. He doesn't quite see it that way yet, but he knows he feels bad and needs to apologize, so yeah. LoL ****You'll just have to wait and see what happens. X3**

**And as for if Jenny is gonna mention Xever getting**** mutated to Akira, or anything else, well, you'll have to stay tuned to find out dear readers/reviewers. X3 **


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